Gundam SEED: Junker's Sol
by DragonKnightRyu
Summary: A wish to sail among the stars leads Kira Yamato to making a new choice when choosing her feature, becoming a Junker, Kira will influence the world a she reveals just how powerful the utilization of the sun can be. (FEM-Kira/OC/OC)
1. Chapter 1: Becoming a Junker

Disclaimer: I own neither Gundam SEED

**AN: 'Sol' is in reference to our solar system, not the metaphysical existence of our soul.**

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"_Radio"_

Chapter One: Becoming a Junker

* * *

**Cornicorpius City - C.E 69**

* * *

A young preteen girl of 14 years of age walking through the Lunar University let out a small sigh as she read through a small folder filled with sheets of paper, she had dark brown hair that fell to her waist, a pair of bangs framing her heart shaped face and expressive Amethyst colored eyes, wearing a dark purple kimono like top with detached sleeves, leaving her shoulders bare, that was held closed by a small obi-esque belt and a black pleated mini-skirt that ended two thirds of the way up her thigh with a pair of black three inch heeled, thigh high boots coming up only an inch or two away from the bottom of her skirt showing a tantalizing view of her creamy flesh.

Inside of the folder she was carrying was a list of possible opportunities she had before her, now that her time at Lunar Academy was ending, yup, a girl still in her preteen phase was completing the Academy, a post _University _school for the highest levels of intellectuals, specializing in computer sciences and mobile suit theory.

Due to her genius, several big name companies, such as Morgenroete, Actaeon Industries, and even ZAFT R&D were all offering her entry level positions, which would normally require a lengthy internship in order to get such a position.

However, there was also another group that made her a job offer, the Junk Guild, it wasn't a spectacular job like the offers from the major three Military Manufacturers, but… she always admired the Junk Guild for their free spirit and positive outlook on things. "Hmm, should I join one of them?" she muttered to herself as she walked. "All three are interesting…"

She let out a soft sigh as she continued to walk, looking up at the false 'sky' the protective dome of Copernicus projected. "To fly free through the skies… it sounds… fun," she whispered to herself as she brought a hand up to shield her eyes from the light. "And with them… I wouldn't have to worry about the war… will I?"

She let out another sigh. "Still, ZAFT's offer is pretty big, all things considered," Kira Yamato said to herself. "I mean, five figures… it's almost ridiculous."

* * *

**Copernicus Academy, Dorms**

* * *

"I'm back!" Kira called out as she stepped into the Dorm room she shared with her two roommates. "Apparently they wanted to give me job offers sent by the big three."

"Ooh, welcome back, Kira-chan!" a pair of near-identical girls looked up from the terminal they were working at. Both of them featured wavy silver hair cascading down to their waists, with large C-cup busts for their age. The red-eyed girl wore just a singlet and panties, while the other blue-eyed one was clad in a pale pink shirt and a white miniskirt.

"The big three? That's gre-great news!" the blue eyed one gave a small smile.

Kira smiled at the twin sisters. "Not sure if I want to take their offers though," she admitted. "All I'd be doing is creating machines of war..."

"Ah, right… Don't you have other offers though?" the red-eyed twin tapped her finger on her chin in thought. "If the big three want you, there must be countless other offers for you."

Kira nodded and pulled out a fourth sheet. "Well, I also got an offer from the Junk Guild," she informed. "And honestly... I want to take it..."

"Then go ahead!" her red-eyed dormmate skipped over and clapped her on her back encouragingly. "Live your dream, Kira-chan, we all deserve it, right Hanami-chan?"

"Ye-Yeah!" the blue-eyed twin nodded in agreement.

Kira smiled at the pair. "What about you two?" she asked. "What do you want to do?"

"We-well…" Hanami thought for a moment. "Probably the sa-same as you, Kira-chan, right, Kagami-chan?"

"Yep!" Kagami chirped. "Not too keen on weapons development either, I wouldn't feel comfortable knowing that stuff I develop could be used to take peoples' lives. That being said though, I'm not enough of an honors student like you for the big three to come knocking on my door anyway," she shrugged.

Kira giggled slightly. "Trust me, being an honors student isn't all that it's cracked up to be," she informed. "Everyone is always expecting perfection from me, well, _almost_ everyone," she amended, sending the twins a grateful look.

"What are best friends for?" Kagami grinned as she pulled Kira into a brief, encouraging hug. "Don't mind us, just go chase your dream. We common folk will just have to do our best to catch up to you. But we'll get there eventually!"

Kira smiled at them. "With your guys' grades, I'm _sure _the Guild would let you join," she informed the pair. "Plus, they rely more on the practical interview than your grades anyways, so if it's you two, I'm sure you could join… that is…" she bit her lip slightly, blushing slightly as she figeted with her hands behind her back. "If you two wanted to…"

"Are you kidding us?" Kagami shot a look at Kira.

"Of-of course we want to!" Hanami quickly made her consent known with a similar light blush adorning her cheeks.

Kira smiled brightly at the pair. "Thanks," she told the pair gratefully before suddenly glomping them, a necklace with a simple Valkyrie amulet on it, a gift from the pair of them. "I'm really glad that you're my friends."

"So-so am I!" Hanami stammered, reciprocating the gesture.

Kagami grinned as she wrapped her arms around both of them too. "Let's keep making those memories together!"

Kira smiled happily, a slight blush on her features. '_I want this to last forever,_' she thought to herself. '_I don't want these peaceful times to end…_'

"So, what say we go out and celebrate this most glorious occasion?" Kagami suggested in an exaggerated grandiose manner as she pulled out her wallet to check her financial status.

"It'll be on u-us!" Hanami quickly added with a pointed look at her best friend.

Kira giggled a bit. "Alright, let's go!" she shouted out with a fist pump. "Let's party!"

* * *

**Four Days Later - Junk Guild, Copernicus Branch**

* * *

"Thanks for doing this with me, you guys," Kira said gratefully as the trio entered the local Junk Guild branch. "Are you sure you want to join the Junk Guild with me though?"

"Yup! Quite honestly I don't really mind the slightly lower paycheck if it means I get to go sightseeing in space," Kagami flashed a bright grin at her best friend.

"Ne-neither do I," Hanami agreed. "I wonder if we'll get to go to Italy?" she mused with a bit of a dreamy look on her face.

Kira giggled. "I know that look, she's thinking about food, isn't she?" she asked teasingly. "Tell me, are you being hand fed by a hot young Italian stud?"

"Ki-Kira-chan!" a scandalized Hanami gasped out. "A-a-as if!"

"Oh, then how about a feisty beauty?" Kira probed. "Wearing only a white apron to cover her voluptuous body…"

Hanami froze in shock. "I-I-I-I'm not a lesbian!" she quickly declared in a whisper.

'_What if it was Kira-chan?' _her twin's voice rang out in her head.

The blue-eyed silverette tripped as they walked and ended up planting her face in the ground.

"Hanami-chan? Are you alright?" Kira asked hurriedly as she knelt down next to her friend. "What happened?"

"No-no-nothing!" she sprang back to her feet, trying to stem the flow of blood from her nose and shooting a stern glare at a laughing Kagami. The nosebleed was from hitting her nose on the ground, she quickly reassured herself.

"Alright… if you say so…" Kira informed slowly, a small part of her feeling disappointed at Hanami's earlier proclamation. "C'mon, let's get to the interview."

"Right!" Kagami pulled out a packet of tissues and offered one to her simultaneously grateful and annoyed twin as they followed after Kira, snickering slightly all the way.

'_Tha-that was uncalled for,'_ Hanami grumbled in her mind. Her red-eyed twin chose to respond only with a smile.

"Hello, your Miss Yamato and Missus Yukikaze, correct?" a receptionist asked brightly as they approached. "Welcome, Mr. Liam Garfield is waiting for you, please, this way."

Kira bit her lip slightly before nodding agreement, casting a nervous look to her friends.

"Go on ahead, we'll be waiting for the good news," Kagami flashed a thumbs up encouragingly, accompanied by a small nod from her twin.

"Actually, Mr Garfield has asked for your presence as well. Kagami Yukikaze-san, Hanami Yukikaze-san," the receptionist informed brightly. "He wishes to meet with the two of you after reading the piece the three of you wrote on using Solar Energies and Mirage Colloid Particles to create High Efficiency Solar Sails, please, come with us."

The trio shared glances with each other. "That was… kinda unexpected," Kagami said after a while.

"Then… we-we'll be in your care!" Hanami bowed so hard she would've unbalanced herself had her twin not caught her at the last moment.

Kira smiled at the pairs antics before the receptionist led them to a decently sized room where a man with long black hair and dark eyes was waiting, he was wearing what seemed to be a semi-casual suit and tie combo as he stood to greet them. "Welcome, ladies, I'm glad to see you accepted my invitation for an interview," he greeted. "My name is Liam Garfield, a representative of the Junk Guild, please, sit."

"Ah, thank you," Kira said as the trio sat down. "I'm Kira Yamato, these are my friends, Hanami and Kagami Yukikaze…"

"Ple-pleased to me-meet you!" Hanami bowed hard again, almost smacking her head into the table in front of them as she sat down in her nervousness.

"Thank you for having us, Garfield-san," Kagami took her seat confidently, although Kira could see her hands shaking slightly and a small bead of sweat rolling down her brow.

"Now, this is a fairly standard interview process, although the question may be a bit different from the ones you may have been expecting," Liam informed with a gentle smile. "Tell me, what gave you the idea for your article on mixing Solar Power and Mirage Colloid Particles to create Solar Sails?"

Kira scratched her cheek for a second. "Well, actually, I was attempting to create a thesis on using high efficiency solar panels to remove the need for reliance on nuclear power, so that the hospitals on Earth that were affected by the N-Jammers could be brought back to full operation."

"Hanami and I came up with the idea of using Mirage Colloid particles to improve the efficiency of solar furnaces, actually," Kagami tapped her finger on her chin in thought, her twin blushing slightly. "They would be more space efficient since the main problem with solar power is the size of the solar farm needed…"

"I see, and how was it that your ideas came together?" Liam asked with rapt attention.

Kira scratched her cheek again, a blush building up on her face. "Well… we kinda shoot ideas back and forth when we're stuck," she admitted. "And when we were stuck on our thesis', Hanami had the idea to use both of our ideas to create a more efficient Solar Sail unit."

"I only tho-thought of that because we were passing by an antique shop selling mo-models of ancient sailing ships at the time…" Hanami confessed, blushing slightly as well. "I-It was a spur-of-the-mo-moment kind of thi-thing."

"Most discoveries are," Liam informed, a smile on his face. "So, what did you hope to achieve with this technology if you _did _manage to create it?"

"Efficient space travel!" Kagami quickly declared passionately. "There's so much out there in space to see that we don't even know about yet, and solar sails are some of the more efficient ways to travel long distances out there. I want to see the sights! Maybe even explore some other planets on the way too!"

Hanami stifled a giggle at a thought that had leaked out of her twin's mind.

"There is that, but it could also allow for necessary resources to be transported more efficiently," Kira added. "Like with the Mars Colony, or even if we were to set up mining operations on other planets."

Liam nodded in understanding. "Admirable," he complimented, his smile widening. "Now I see that all three of you have put some time into mobile suit development of some sort," he added, looking a sheet of paper he held. "What were you hopes with that?"

Kira shrugged slightly. "While I am not a fan of the fact that most of that research, if used, would be for weapons of war, I understand that one cannot simply stand on the sidelines without someway to defend yourself," she informed resolutely. "So, that's why _I _researched mobile suit development."

"Besides, mobile suits can still be used for other purposes aside from war," Kagami nodded. "I know ZAFT repurposes some of its old mobile suits for construction, and there's also the potential to be used for search and rescue."

Liam nodded in agreement. "Yes, I actually agree with you on the matter, and the Junk Guild use the Work's GiNN quite commonly," he informed. "Final question, why do you wish to join the Junk Guild?"

"I… admire those in the Junk Guild for their free spirit and their drive for making use of what others abandoned," Kira admitted. "and since I was always pushed to make use of my genius, I guess I just want to be able to be just… me."

"I want to be able to contribute to the advancement of humanity as a whole. Obviously war isn't the way to go about it - this Coordinator-Natural racism thing is just stupid," Kagami shook her head. "I want to join the Junk Guild for the freedom to do what I want as a truly neutral faction, and also to see if I can't do something for humanity in the process."

"Umm… Kagami-chan has mostly said what I wanted to say, Garfield-san," Hanami spoke quietly in a rare moment when she wasn't stammering. "I… want to help people by developing new technologies. There are so many people suffering on Earth, I… I just can't stand by and watch as a human - I don't care who's a Natural or who's a Coordinator, I just want to be useful."

Liam beamed at the trio. "Then I have only this to say to the three of you, welcome to the Junk Guild," he informed.

Kagami actually let out a loud squeal as she practically jumped out of her seat and hugged her twin and their best friend both at once, only to teleport back into her seat in embarrassment when Hanami let out a polite cough accompanied by a blush while looking around furtively.

"Thank you, Mr. Garfield," Kira said gratefully, giggling at her friend's embarrassment. "Umm, when do you want us to start?"

"In one week's time," Liam informed. "The ship you will be stationed on, the _H.O.M.E _will be docking then and you will meet the rest of the crew then."

"Alright!" Kagami pumped her fist in the air, quickly recovering from her earlier embarrassment. "Hanami-chan, Kira-chan, we're going shopping before then!"

Hanami blinked in surprise. "Kagami-chan… wha-what?"

Kira also blinked at Kagami's proclamation. "What's wrong with what we've got?" she asked in surprise. "I mean, we've already got plenty."

"Come on! It's the start of a completely new life! We definitely need to celebrate by getting some new stuff!" Kagami declared, completely oblivious to the chuckles of the Junk Guild employee sitting just across them.

"Huh, Kagami-chan?" Kira asked as the Silverette grabbed on to her and Hanami's arms and began to drag them away. "Wait, Kagami-chan!"

"Thi-thi-this is so embarrassing…" Hanami groaned out loud as she attempted to free herself. "Tha-thank you, Garfield-san! We wo-won't let you down!"

Liam laughed as he waved, watching as the pair were dragged off by the excitable third.

* * *

**One Week Later, Copernicus Docks**

* * *

"Wow, that's a Marseille III-Class," Kira said as they watched the ship, painted in the Orange and Red Colors of the Junk Guild. "I'm impressed they kept it running."

"I wonder if we'll get a room together like before?" Kagami was bouncing on her feet excitedly as she spun her luggage bag around.

Hanami just smiled softly as she stared up at the ship that would be their home for the foreseeable future. "It's qu-quite appropriate for them to ca-call it the _H.O.M.E._, isn't it?" she remarked.

Kira nodded in agreement. "It should be fun," she said, her own excitement building up. "Plus from what Mr. Garfield said, the people aboard are pretty fun to be around."

Hanami reached out and tugged at her twin's collar before she could run off to meet the crew. "Kagami-chan… be pa-patient…" she admonished.

"Yes mum," the red-eyed twin rolled her eyes only to receive a poke to the ribs. "Oi."

Kira giggled at the pairs antics as a group of people descended from the ship. "Hey~ You must be the new recruits! Welcome!" the person in the lead, a male looking to be about 16 with brown hair and eyes, his spiky hair being held up by a blue bandanna and was wearing a yellow sleeveless jacket over a black t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans tucked into work boots. "Hey there! I'm Lowe Guele, a pleasure to meet you, although… I have to admit, most to the stuff you wrote in that article Liam showed me, went completely over my head."

Kagami gave Lowe an odd look. "I feel like doing _it_ to him," she muttered, sharing a look at her twin and Kira.

"Kagami-chan, tha-that would be mean…" Hanami quickly dissuaded her.

Kira palmed her face. "He wasn't insulting us, Kagami-chan," she inputted. "Anyways, it's nice to meet you, I'm Kira Yamato, and these are Kagami and Hanami Yukikaze."

"I know he wasn't insulting us, but I thought we made that thesis idiotproof…" Kagami groaned. "Still doesn't mean I'm not pleased to meet you though!"

"L-Likewise!" Hanami quickly bowed.

"Lowe is that special kind of idiot," a red haired, dark eyed female wearing a black tube top under an open purplish t-shirt that left a lot of skin exposed and a pair of blue jeans that ended about mid calf, informed. "I'm Kisato Yamabuki, it's nice to meet you."

"Hey!" Lowe protested. "I'll have you know I am the Number One best when it comes to modifications!"

"Special kind of idiot I see…" Kagami smirked. "Oh well, to each their own. I'm looking forward to working with you!"

"You can just call me Professor," another woman with long reddish-brown hair and a pair of brown eyes behind her glasses, wearing a red dress shirt and black skirt under a white labcoat. "I enjoyed reading your thesis, I look forward to seeing the future work you do here."

"W-We'll do our best!" Hanami nodded enthusiastically.

"So, you three have everything you need?" Lowe asked. "Cause we got our first assignment already, a small skirmish broke out in L2 and it's our job to clean up the mess and scavenge what we can, ready?"

Kira nodded. "I know I am," she informed with a bright smile. "I look forward to working with you all!"

"So… when do we get going?" Kagami's eyes were practically sparkling in anticipation.

"Right now if you want to," Kisato informed, giggling slightly at the silverette's excitement. "We're just stopped to pick you three up."

"Oooh!" Kagami had to be once again politely restrained by her twin before she could rush off into the ship unattended. "So, where are we dropping our bags?"

"Follow us, unfortunately the three of you will have to share a room," Lowe informed apologetically. "We're a bit short on space with all the stuff we kinda have cluttered around."

"Oh, we do-don't mind that," Hanami quickly clapped a hand over her twin's mouth before she could let out an overeager shout in celebration, although she herself was grinning. "We've been ro-roommates for a while anyway."

'_Meanie,'_ Kagami mentally pouted.

"Alright then, that worked out nicely," Lowe said in obvious relief. "C'mon, I'll show you your room, feel free to modify it as much as you want, so long as it doesn't affect the structural integrity anyways."

"What kind of modifications to a room wo-would damage a ship?" Hanami blinked in confusion.

"Well, basically there was one person, who ended up making a pin sized hole on an exterior wall of a ship we had once…" Lowe informed. "Thank god each rooms are sealed."

Hanami blinked again, then turned to look at Kagami.

"Why are you looking at me? I'm not going to do anything that stupid," the red-eyed silverette quickly protested.

"Really? Because sometimes I wonder…" Kira said slowly.

"I'm not that bad, am I?" an unnerved Kagami looked between Kira and Hanami slowly, cold sweat pouring down her brow.

Hanami decided to respond with a small cough.

"Must I mention the '_Experiment_' you tried?" Kira said in a deadpan. "If I remember, you spent a week in jail for it."

"Ack," Kagami recoiled as if struck by an arrow. "Umm… It-it was just a week?" she quickly attempted to salvage her dignity.

"You had almost been brought to court for triple counts of treason and crimes against _humanity_, Kagami-chan," Kira once again deadpanned. "Forgive us for being worried."

Kagami winced again as she deflated and slumped to the ground. "Meanies. I swear you two are always picking on me," she whimpered as she curled up into a ball on the ground and a depressed aura appeared around her.

"We're just telling the truth, Kagami-chan," Kira informed. "_You're _the one who got yourself into those situations."

The defeated silverette started rolling around on the ground while mumbling incoherently in depression. After a while she ended up rolling to Kira's feet while looking up at her with exaggerated puppy eyes pleadingly.

Kira looked down with a deadpan. "You should know, I am just as immune to that as I am your mask, Kagami-chan," she informed bluntly. "I am above your petty attempts at manipulation."

"Darn it," Kagami groaned. "But can you at least… stop destroying my dignity in front of the people we just landed a job with?" she complained, pointing at the group of Junk Guild members staring at them.

"Why? it's ever so much fun," Kira informed innocently. "It would take quite the significant bribe to stop me from mentioning another certain incident that involved a cherry."

"Gaaaaah!" Kagami started bashing her head on the ground comically. "Fine, you win five parfaits at the next restaurant we find!"

Kira giggle happily in response. "Then my lips are sealed now," she informed as she began to skip away, towards the ship.

"She's a demon in human skin I swear," Kagami muttered before shooting a look at her twin sister, who was trying and failing to stifle her laughter. "Stop laughing!" she ordered as she stomped off after Kira with a mock huff.

"Wa-wait for me!" Hanami had to force herself to stop laughing as she followed.

"We'll, they should certainly be an amusing group to join us," the Professor said in amusement as the other two chuckle in response. "Let's get going."

* * *

**Two Year Later - **_**Heliopolis **_**Colony, **_**Heliopolis **_**Junk Guild Branch**

* * *

"Man, why did _we _have to get sent to man the _Heliopolis_ Branch?" Kira asked in a small whine as she sat with a bored expression at a desk, she had grown over the last two years, her cup size growing to the upper end C-cups, possibly even to low D's, and was wearing an outfit much like two year ago, save without the detached sleeves, leaving her arms completely bare. "It's _so _boring!"

"Well, we do have to build up some paper-pushing experience at some point I guess…" Hanami suggested as she worked at her own desk diligently, having gotten rid of her stammer during her time with the more social members of the Junk Guild. She had undergone quite a big growth spurt, her bust going up to E-cups and her other curves growing even more pronounced. She wore an undersized dark blue half-jacket that was only buttoned up across the top of her sizable assets, under which she wore a white crop top. A pair of fingerless white evening gloves with a few dark blue stripes covered her arms, while she wore a dark blue miniskirt and knee-length black boots.

"Bored bored bored bored bored bored," Kagami repeated a mantra as she attempted to make a crossbow out of the various stationery lying around on her desk. She had developed in much the same way as her quieter blue-eyed twin sister, and wore pretty much the same outfit except she didn't have the undershirt, so her underbust was slightly exposed and her midriff was completely bared for the world to see. She had been the one to come up with the outfit and pretty much force Hanami into it, although the less shameless member of the pair had utterly refused to go without the undershirt.

"But for _two years?_" Kira whined. "I wanted to work on my High Efficiency Solar Panels… I was _this _close to finishing them!"

"You still need to file a patent for them afterwards anyway right?" Hanami pointed out as she neatly set a stack of finished paperwork on the side of her desk and started sorting through another stack.

"I have the patent ready, and it _has _been processed, all I need is the working model," Kira informed with a pout. "But they dragged me away before I could complete it!"

A pen flew at Kira at high speed, only for her to immediately dodge it. Hanami had also ducked under it with a sigh, as it hit the wall beside her. Both girls looked at an innocently whistling Kagami, who was hiding a crossbow made from a few rulers, a stapler and more than a few rubber bands behind her back not quite successfully.

Kira narrowed her eyes at Kagami. "You want to dance," she asked dangerously, her hands darting into her desk to pull out an 'Eraser Launcher' she made last week out of boredom. "Let's dance."

"Bring it on!" Kagami smirked with a glint in her eyes as small amounts of her killing intent started to leak out.

Hanami reached into her desk, pulled out several large components that she locked together to form a gigantic multi-barreled pen launcher, armed it and set it down on her desk as she continued her work.

"ATTACK!" Kira cried out as her makeshift weapon fired several rounds at Kagami, before dodging another pen from the crossbow.

"I declare neutrality unless attacked," Hanami said in complete deadpan as she unfolded a screen and put it up around her stacks of paperwork. Some of the other Junk Guild paper pushers in the office wisely decided to do the same, or hide their paperwork under their desks where they wouldn't be thrown everywhere by the oncoming ruckus.

"Oh no you don't!" Kagami loaded an uncapped marker onto her crossbow and fired it at Kira, who dodged again. The marker painted a stripe of yellow on someone else's face with a response in the form of an indignant shout.

"No more nice Kira!" Kira shouted out as she quickly replaced several parts in her launcher, making it powered by compressed gas before loading a shredded eraser and fired it at Kagami.

"That's not fair!" Kagami ducked behind a divider as she dove into her desk for another weapon. Moments later she reemerged with a magazine-fed paperclip railgun made out of several metal rulers and a car battery.

Hanami calmly added another large multi-barreled pen launcher to her arsenal, complete with several clips of ammunition.

Kira spun around several paperclips before launching several 'scattershot erasers' covering herself as she ducked behind a divider of her own and before fashioning a new weapon.

Kagami fashioned a riot shield from a few large pieces of mounting board and started advancing on Kira while keeping her suppressed with rapid fire from her railgun.

Kira suddenly popped up from behind her cover, holding a bottle of whiteout that she threw behind Kagami's shield before it exploded, splattering the silverette and the surrounding area in whiteout.

"How did you rig that whiteout to blow- never mind, you're Kira," Kagami groaned as she shook as much of the whiteout out of her hair as possible before deciding she needed an indirect fire weapon and starting to build a new weapon.

It was only half done before both she and Kira started to get pelted by an onslaught of pens. Hanami had set up her pen launchers on top of the wall of her cubicle, accompanied by a large belt-fed pen-firing machine gun on a makeshift bipod. "Neutrality unless attacked, I said," she pointed out as she gestured at the screen protecting her paperwork covered in whiteout.

Kira and Kagami both paled in response before… "I'M SORRY!" they both shouted simultaneously. "Please forgive us! Don't take away your cooking!"

"Actually I didn't think of that," Hanami tapped her finger on her chin in thought. "No food for you two until you get your paperwork for today done!" she declared in a tone that brooked no argument, accompanied by killing intent and a Noh mask floating in the air behind her.

The pair sobbed, not really affected by the mask, but rather her threat of no food before slumping over to their desks to start working on their paperwork. "Hanami-chan is a meanie," Kira pouted.

Hanami calmly rotated the machine gun to point in Kira's direction before settling back down to do her work while projecting another mask. The masks floated eerily over to Kira and Kagami to stare over their shoulders as they worked, somehow even breathing out cold breath on their shoulders through their nostrils.

"I'll be quiet…" Kira informed in defeat as her shoulders slumped.

"Good girl," Hanami's voice floated over the dividers between them.

"Hanami-chan is scary," Kagami commented fearfully as she dove into her paperwork with renewed gusto.

* * *

**Outside of **_**Heliopolis, **_**inside of Resource Asteroid field**

* * *

A pair of ZAFT Warships, both of them of the Nazca-class, floated through space, being sure to keep the asteroids between themselves and the Colony, on the bridge of the ship dubbed the '_Vesalius_' a blond haired, white coated, commander smirked as he looked upon the colony. '_And now, the beginning of the end of the world starts again…_' he thought to himself, restraining the laughter that bubbled up from within himself.

"Commander, away teams have reported in," the ship's communications officer report. "They are now beginning their infiltration of _Heliopolis._"

"Good," the blond commander, Rau le Creuset, commented with a smile. "Start the mission timer."

"Timer is active!" another officer reported. "T-Minus 7200 seconds until deployment of mobile suits!"

"Recon team has reported the OMNI Marseilles-III has not yet moved!" the CIC officer informed. "All cannons are locked on and will start charging at t-minus 7000 seconds!"

"Good," Rau complimented. "By the books today gentlemen, and it will be an easy victory."

* * *

**END CHAPTER!**


	2. Chapter 2: Tragedy of Heliopolis

Disclaimer: I own neither Gundam SEED

**AN: 'Sol' is in reference to our solar system, not the metaphysical existence of our soul.**

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"_Radio"_

Chapter Two: Tragedy of Heliopolis

* * *

_**Heliopolis, **_**Market District - C.E. 71**

* * *

"These parfaits are _so _good!" Kira declared happily as she bit into her dessert. "I'm so _happy…_"

"I know, right? Finally, a break from all that paperwork…" Kagami sighed in relief as she licked at the top of her own parfait gingerly.

"You could've taken this break sooner if you'd gotten everything done faster…" Hanami pointed out as she poked at her own parfait. "A bit on the sweet side…"

"That's why it's so good~!" Kira cooed as she continued to eat the parfait, her sweet tooth making itself known. "_Heaven~_"

Kagami laughed as she took a bite out of her parfait. "I still think the ones Hanami-chan makes are much better."

"Cafes just use a generalized recipe, they don't account for individual tastes," Hanami smiled as she swirled her parfait around for a bit before grabbing a spoonful of it. "Hmm, interesting use of lemon sorbet," she remarked.

Kira ignored the twin's conversation as she happily hummed to herself, engrossed in the parfait, only to find it finished too soon for her tastes. "Aww…" she moaned piteously as she looked sorrowfully down on her empty desert.

"I can always make some more for you later on," the blue-eyed silverette mused. "We can go shopping for the ingredients after we're done at Morgenroete."

Kira immediately brightened up. "Hanami-chan's parfait~" she squealed in excitement. "Oh my god thank you~!"

Hanami blushed slightly as she rubbed the back of her head. "I wonder if I could mix some wine into it…" she mused, the gears in her mind already starting to turn as she started mentally fixing up a recipe.

"Ah, there she goes again," Kagami chuckled as she finished off her own parfait and tried to steal Hanami's, only for a hand to come down on hers. "Ow."

"Hands off, this one is mine," her twin sister wrapped her arms around the parfait protectively.

"Hurryhurryhurryhurry!" Kira said quickly. "The sooner we get to Morgenroete the sooner I get Hanami-chan's Parfait~! Ohh… I can't wait~!"

"That being said, what are we going to do in Morgenroete again?" the red-eyed silverette asked curiously. "I didn't quite get the memo."

Kira blinked at Kagami. "Really, Kagami-chan?" she asked in a deadpan before sighing. "Alright, Morgenroete hired us, as Junkers, to assist them in the final tuning of ORB's Prototype Mobile Suits."

"ORB's developing mobile suits?" Kagami squawked before casting a hasty look around to make sure no one had heard her outburst. "Well, considering their neutral policy I guess we don't have to worry about war… but mobile suits, really? Any idea how many of them we have to tune?"

"Four to my knowledge," Kira replied. "They're mostly general purpose models, but each are given a pseudo specialty, basically they testing out possibilities for mass production and customization, and are you really surprised, look at how effective the ZAFT mobile suits are in space _and _on the ground."

"We do use the Works GiNN ourselves so we can't really say much," Hanami shrugged as she polished off the last of her parfait.

"And seeing as we have experience working with mobile suit tuning… the Junk Guild sends us," Kagami rubbed her temples. "Oh well. We better get paid for this job."

"So long as YOU don't break anything," Hanami said nonchalantly as the three of them got up.

"I'll be good!" Kagami quickly snapped to attention, her eye twitching slightly in annoyance at being called out for property damage and not being able to complain about it.

Hanami's shot a pointed look at Kira. "If I recall correctly you had a hand in that last incident involving a pipe wrench and a prototype railgun too…"

"Well, this is only a rumour," Kira began, ignoring Kagami's comment and pointed look with a small blush, her voice dropping into a soft whisper. "But… I think they're offering a mobile suit in return…"

Hanami tripped in surprise and managed to crash into Kira's back, sending both of them toppling to the pavement while Kagami stood there slack-jawed at the idea of Morgenroete giving away a mobile suit.

"Sorry!" Hanami quickly gasped out.

"Uh, umm…" Kira stuttered out, blushing as her head was nestled between Hanami's globes of flesh, with Hanami's knee riding a bit to close between her legs. "Please get up, _carefully…_"

Hanami got up slightly to see exactly where she was touching, before gaining a bright blush and practically teleporting to just behind Kagami in embarrassment. "So-sorry," she squeaked, her stammer returning for the briefest of moments.

Luckily for her, Kagami had been daydreaming too much to notice.

"It… it's alright, Hanami-chan," Kira assured quickly as she stood up, a blush on her own face as she put her back to the twins to hide her embarrassment and started walking towards the Vehicle Terminal. "Let… let's just go… shall we?"

"Ye-yeah, let's…" Hanami blushed, her mind a turmoil of emotions as she gently poked her twin sister in the ribs to rouse her and followed after Kira. '_What in the world was that?_' she asked herself.

"Mobile suit reward!" Kagami cheered, having missed the whole incident in her stupor. "Did something happen?" she blinked in confusion when she noticed the odd mood hanging in the air.

"Nothing!" the other two shouted simultaneously, their backs rigid as they stood at attention.

* * *

_**Heliopolis **_**Morgenroete Technical College**

* * *

A young man looking to be about 18 with slightly shaggy dark brown hair with dark green eyes, bearing some scruff on his chin, sighed as he scratched at his scalp, another hand resting in the pockets to his blue jeans, a black t-shirt covering his upper body. "Look, Tolle, this linkage set here," he said as he traced a series of interlocking cables, the brown haired and eyed boy next to him following his hands. "This sort of set up would cause an overload when the loader was stressed in the wrong way, which while it may be uncommon, _does _happen."

Tolle Koenig let out a small ah of understanding as he disconnected the linkage set and started to try again, the man next to him offering him some pointers as he worked.

"Hisanaga-sensei, how should I go about writing this part of the AMBAC system?"

Ryu Hisanaga, and assistant professor of the Morgenroete Technical College - specializing in Mobile Suit and Heavy-Class Power Loaders as well as operating as an occasional Morgenroete test pilot, looked over as another student called over to him and moved over next to her as he looked over her work. "Hmm, in this section here," he said, pointing to the section in question. "AMBAC systems need to be extremely precise, so when doing the calibrations, most believe it to be best done in zero-gee with pre-tuned AMBECs loaded on just in case, understand?"

"Right…" a young girl with long silver hair reaching to her waist nodded as she thought for a moment before pulling up several files from the college's server. She wore a sleeveless beige jacket over a white T-shirt that covered her B-cup bust, matched with a pair of figure-hugging black jeans.

"Other than that, good work, Fubuki-kun," he said to his student - who, quite honestly, he considered to be his best pupil in general terms. "Make sure you take in this variable here when doing the calculations, a lot of pro's miss it, even I had once, boy, did that come back to bite me."

Fubuki blushed slightly at the close proximity to her teacher - she didn't quite dare to admit it, but she did have a _biiiiiit_ of a crush on him, although she never seemed to be able to pick up any of his thoughts. "So I guess we can't quite calibrate it until we get out of the colony…" she mused, tapping her finger on her chin in thought. "I guess I'll move on then. Sai-san, are you done with your part?"

Sai looked up a bit and frowned slightly. "Well… not exactly, the OS they're looking for is really confusing," he admitted. "Everytime that I send one into the Sim they gave us, it rejects due to lag time."

Ryu frowned slightly as he moved over to Sai's station and looked it over. "Lag time mostly happens when you put in the wrong dimensions of what you're working on," he explained. "Hmm, yeah, everything looks alright to me, for a power loader OS anyways, I know that OMNI once had the 'brilliant' idea of taking the OS from a Heavy-Class Loader and slapped some weapon algorithms onto it in an attempt to make a Natural Use OS, but… it failed in trials _spectacularly_, it may be because of something like that."

Sai nodded slowly in understanding. "I'll try upping the dimensions and see if that helps," he informed as he got to work, receiving a pat on the shoulder from Ryu, who moved to his own desk and picked up a part he was fiddling with.

'_They're getting close to figuring out what Kato has them working on,_' he thought to himself, a small smirk playing over his features. '_If I win this little bet between us, and they figure it out before the units are rolled out, that means I can form a development branch with them, c'mon, you guys can do it._'

Fubuki frowned as she pulled up a separate screen beside hers and started comparing a few lines of code. "All this doesn't quite add up…" she mused. "It's like we're coding an OS for something bigger than a power loader, and adapt power loader code to it…"

As he heard Fubuki's whisper Ryu let out a small chuckle, and reclined in his chair, confident he would win his bet. "Why don't you guys take a break," he called out to them. "You've been going at it for a few hours now, so stop for a bit and grab some chow why don't you?"

"Alright… I'm starting to miss my sister's cooking" Fubuki stretched and winced when she felt a vertebrae pop. "Ow."

"Ah, you've _definitely _been sitting too long there, Fubuki-kun," Ryu spoke up, a slight grin on his face. "Need your spine popped?"

"Eh…" Fubuki blushed again. "I-I'll be fine," she hurriedly reassured her teacher.

Ryu's eyebrow rose - inwardly noting how cute she looked when flustered. "If you're sure then," he told her. "Just don't whine to me if you get back problems though, I may not be exactly licensed by I know a thing or two about cracking spines."

"I-I think I'll take you up on that o-offer sometime…" Fubuki started poking her fingers together shyly as she stood up and stretched a bit more.

*pop*

"Ow."

Ryu sighed as he stood up and walked over to the wincing silverette. "Stand up straight, arms at shoulder height," he told her, an amused smile on his face as he took a knee behind her and ran a hand along her spine searching for a tense point, kindly ignoring the blush on her face. "Ah, here's the problem, now… you may feel a slight… _pinch!_" he shouted before he cracked her spine in the tense spot. "There, how's that?"

"That feels… a lot better…" she moaned, trying to commit the feel of his hands to her memory as she stretched experimentally. "Thanks, Hisanaga-sensei…" she decided to ignore the whistling coming from her friend Mirialla.

Ryu patted her on the shoulder. "Not a problem, Fubuki-kun, now, go get something to eat," he told her, shooing her off. "Young bodies need food."

"O-okay!" she ran off out the doorway, deciding she needed to go wash her face and try to calm her raging nerves down.

Ryu chuckled as he watched her leave. "So innocent," he mused to himself as he turned back to his desk. "Let's hope it can stay that way for them."

* * *

**Outside of Morgenroete**

* * *

"Welp, we're here," Kira called out as they exited the Vehicle they used to get to the Morgenroete Facilities, attached to the Technical College. "Gotta say, it _looks _impressive, wonder if the guts match the skin though?"

"Pretty sure it should, no self-respecting member of the Big Three would like to be seen with a building in bad condition - it's bad for their rep," Kagami smiled, as she looked up at the massive building. "I wonder what kind of gear they have in here?"

"No on-the-spot prototyping using their facilities, Kagami-chan," Hanami bonked her twin sister lightly on the head. "We don't want to get on their bad side, mobile suit reward, remember?" she added, blushing lightly as she recalled the incident earlier.

"Yes, mum," Kagami rolled her eyes. "I'll be good."

Hanami discreetly poked her in the ribs.

Kira giggled at their antics. "It's almost like a Straight Man/Funny Man comedy around you two," she chirped with another giggle. "Hey, didn't you say your little sister goes to school here?"

"Yeah, Fubuki-chan does," Hanami nodded as she looked at the smaller buildings littered around the area off to the side. "If I'm not mistaken she should be in class now… I feel kind of bad for not being able to meet up with her lately though."

"We don't really have a choice with our work schedule," Kagami shrugged. "I swear, paperwork is the spawn of the devil… no one should have to deal with it."

Kira smiled at the pair happily. "Well, when we're finished with Morgenroete maybe we can swing by and say hello," she informed them. "After all, I'd like to meet the family of by best friends."

"Eh? Hanami-nee? Kagami-nee?"

"Speak of the devil," Kagami smiled as she turned around to face her younger sister, who was standing on the sidewalk staring at them before frowning slightly. "I thought you were bigger."

"Eh? Uh, well…" the youngest member of the Yukikaze family blushed. "Never mind that, what are you girls doing here?" she quickly changed the subject before noticing the sole member of the group that didn't have silver hair.

Kira blinked and tilted her head before gasping with a smile. "Oh, you must be Fubuki-chan!" she declared. "I'm Kira Yamato!"

"Ah, Yamato-san. My sisters talk about you all the time," Fubuki nodded. "I'm Fubuki Yukikaze."

"Being overly respectful again, Fubuki-chan?" Kagami groaned. "You need to loosen up a bit, just call her Kira-chan."

"It's alright to call me Kira, after all, from everything I learned about you from Kagami-chan and Hanami-chan, I feel like we're already friends!" she informed with a bright smile. "So, let's be friends for real!"

"Umm, okay, Ya… Kira-san," Fubuki fumbled with her name for a moment before smiling at Kira. "I better get going, I'm only on a short break right now. Hanami-nee, Kagami-nee, I suppose I'll see you later?"

"I sure hope so, Fubuki-chan," Hanami smiled as she ruffled her younger sister's head.

"Bye, nice meeting you!" Kira called out with an enthusiastic wave as Fubuki headed off in the direction of her classroom in a light trot. "Wow, she's just adorable."

"I know, right?" Kagami grinned as she flexed her fingers. "Although I swear she had a bigger rack than that the last time I saw her…"

"No perving on your own sister, Kagami-chan," Hanami quickly bonked her twin on the head again, though she did have a very slight blush as well. "She's just scared to show it, I mean… she does have _that _condition after all."

Kira tilted her head in confusion. "What condition?" she asked curiously. "Is she sick or something?"

"Ah, not quite. She's an empath you see, she can somehow feel what other people around her are thinking. That's why she tries not to get noticed as much as possible, she doesn't quite feel comfortable when people think about her for too long," Hanami explained.

"Oh… so when you said 'scared to show it', you meant her rack and she was scared of the lewd thoughts people would have?" she asked for clarification.

"Yup," Kagami nodded. "She came only a year behind us, but she definitely has the same Yukikaze gene we got," she bounced on her toes just enough to make the twin orbs of flesh on her chest wobble slightly for emphasis.

Hanami groaned slightly as she wrapped her arms around her own chest. "I swear I got enough looks myself back on Copernicus whenever I got mistaken for Kagami-chan…"

Kira giggled in response. "Well, I can certainly say that women are definitely jealous when they see them, although… for me I know how much of a pain they can be," she informed. "I mean, how much pain would you be in without my special 'rubs'?"

Both of the twins blushed at that. "We hate gravity," they grumbled simultaneously. "At least it's not as bad in space or on the moon…"

Kira giggled in response. "You're welcome," she informed them, turning as she hid a slight blush of her own. "Now, let's get this job over with."

"Righto!" Kagami chirped.

Kira giggled in response as they headed into the Morgenroete Facilities.

* * *

**Elsewhere Inside **_**Heliopolis**_

* * *

A group of soldiers, wearing red or green flight suits, and armed to the teeth, floated through the ventilation system of the Colony, moving towards their objective with a stoicism of professionals. "Group 2, split off here," the blue haired, green eyed leader, Athrun Zala, commanded. "Group 1, on me."

"Roger," came the soft confirmation from several soldiers as they broke off from the group and headed down a separate shaft, and soon enough, the main group came to the exit of the ventilation systems and came to a cliff overlooking the Morgenroete Facilities.

"That's where they are being kept," a silver haired, blue eyed pilot, Yzak Joule, commented as they looked over the sprawling facility.

"T-minus 900 seconds until attack begins," a soft spoken green haired, brown eyed pilot, Nicol Amalfi informed.

"Well, thing's will definitely get loud around here, hopefully no calls the police with noise complaints," a blonde haired, purple eyed pilot, Dearka Elsman joked.

"Cut the chatter," Athrun ordered. "Check your weapons and get ready for combat."

"Right."

"Roger."

"You got it."

Assorted replies came to him as he watched the scenery for a second more before getting to work checking his own equipment.

* * *

**Heliopolis Production Floor**

* * *

"So, these are the prototype Units Morgenroete is producing," Kira murmured as she looked at the four units they asked them to look over, each of them were mostly white, although they each sported a different secondary color, Red, Blue, Gold and Green. "Not bad looking."

"Those V-fins do give them a nice samurai-looking vibe..." Kagami agreed as she pulled up a terminal showing their specs and blinked.

"Yup, military grade stuff," Hanami nodded after a quick glance. "The Astray series... Red Frame, Blue Frame, Gold Frame and Green Frame."

"Not very original," Kira commented before shrugging. "But hey, whatever floats their boats, right?"

"I guess so," Kagami shrugged. "I get the feeling this isn't everything they have though."

"Just look at the marks on the floor," Hanami pointed out. "A lot more has been through here than those 4 mobile suits…"

"Wouldn't be surprised," Kira murmured. "I think those might have been the experimental models before the prototypes for mass production here."

"I'm kind of wondering what the differences between these models are," Kagami admitted. "Aside from the colour scheme that is."

"Well, only one way to find out, and that's to get to work," Kira announced. "I'll start with the Red Frame here, you guys?"

"Bags I the not-so-shiny one," Kagami grinned as she ran over to the Gold Frame.

Hanami was already standing in front of the Blue Frame.

Kira nodded as she moved over to the Terminal in front of the Red frame and got to work, looking over the technical data. '_It's loaded with a prototype Natural-Use OS?_' she mentally wondered as she looked it over. '_It's almost there, but it would need an AI to help it out… should I finish it for them?_'

Hanami looked over the Blue Frame, checking all the systems. "Everything checks out mostly okay…" she murmured to herself idly. "Specs for optional equipment? Wow, that's going to make it very versatile… especially with how many extra stuff it can load up. Should I work on the OS first? Nah, Kira-chan's better with it. Ah, a few kinks in the stability program…"

"I thought it'd be a bit cooler since it's golden and all, but in the end all it gets are hand plugs so it can use OMNI weapons too?" Kagami groaned, slightly regretting her decision. "Oh well, I guess I'll just add some extra targeting protocols. No sense being able to use extra weapons if it can't hit the broad side of a barn with them."

* * *

**45 minutes later**

* * *

A Morgenroete engineer sighed as he walked into the Production Facility that the four Prototype Astray Units were being held, it had been a real clusterfuck morning trying to get the other experimental models out of there before the Junkers showed up, and now he was to see if it paid off, entering in he came up short as he saw the three young girls - couldn't have been much older than his own daughter - standing around the console to the Green Frame.

"Just needed to tweak the values a bit on this part here for the Defensive AI," Kira said aloud. "Not much else needed for this one."

"There honestly wasn't a whole lot to do in the end," Kagami remarked. "Nice mobile suits by the way."

The mechanic blinked in surprise before looking down at his watch to confirm that yes, they did complete the work that they had been stumbling over for months, in less than an hour. "Ah, right… ummm… we have your payment ready," he informed. "Please, follow me."

"And no spending it on weird stuff again," Hanami commented with a pointed look at the other two members of the trio.

"HEY! Plushie-chans are not weird." Kira commented with a pout and a sniff.

"And how many of them do you have in our room?" Hanami arched an eyebrow.

Kira blushed in embarrassment. "217," she answered in a small voice. "But they're not weird!"

"There was the skull one, the one with the weird mask, the one that looks like its doing a perverted laugh…" Hanami listed off.

Kagami stifled a laugh.

"Hanami-chan is a meanie," Kira pouted again. "What about Kagami-chan and her pervy books! No way that Plushie-chans are as bad as those are!"

Kagami froze and turned to stare at Kira mechanically. "Ho-ho-how did you know about…"

"Ceiling, under your bed, in some boxes for old appliances…" Hanami listed off the hiding places.

"Gaaah! Noo!" Kagami dramatically screamed as she mimed tearing out her hair.

"And what about _you _Hanami-chan," Kira declared whirling on the now blushing Hanami. "You and your pervy Mecha Girl costumes!"

"Um… ah… eh…" cold sweat started pouring down the silverette's brow in droves. "I… ah… I don't know what you're talking about…" she whispered not very convincingly.

"Oh, so if I were to look for a little secret removable panel from the floor of your closet I wouldn't find fifteen sexy costumes?" Kira asked, a grin forming on her face as she pressed her advantage.

Hanami somehow managed to pale and blush at the same time as she started poking her fingers together and squirming. "We-well…" she whispered, unable to form a suitable response.

"Although… I certainly wouldn't be opposed to seeing you dressed up in them, although… I wonder how _I'd _look in them…" Kira mused.

Steam started coming out of Hanami's ears as her brain slowly reached critical mass. "Ki-Ki-Kira-chan!" she whimpered.

"Does that mean you actually wouldn't mind going without that undershirt?" Kagami threw in her own two cents. "I mean… it feels so much more liberating without it."

A cough reminded them that they were not alone as they turned to face the blushing engineer. "Please… stop that…" he pleaded. "I have a daughter your age and this makes me _extremely _uncomfortable."

"Oh, uh…" Hanami ducked behind Kagami to hide herself.

"Alright, alright…" Kagami relented. "And it was such a good chance to get Hanami-chan out of it too…"

"Sorry," Kira said apologetically with an embarrassed blush. "So, what exactly is this payment, we weren't really told before coming here."

"Well, we have some Prototype Units we no longer have need for and no pilots for them, so it was decided that we'd give them to the Junk Guild as payment," the Engineer explained as they came into another hanger with three trailers, each of the trailers bore the marking of the Junk Guild. "Do you need drivers for them?"

Kira shook her head. "We all rated for Heavy-Class vehicles," she informed. "Thank you for the mobile suits though."

"It was nice working with you!" Kagami chirped.

"Thank you for having us," Hanami bowed respectfully, then turned around to think for a moment. "Kira-chan, Kagami-chan, I think I'm still happier with the Junk Guild."

"Y'know what, so am I," Kira agreed. "After all, we get to have loads of fun together!"

"Completely thirded," Kagami grinned cheerfully. "I'm actually starting to miss the gang from the H.O.M.E. already though… Teasing Lowe-san and getting Kisato-san all riled up is so much fun."

"Only you, Kagami-chan, only you," Hanami shook her head.

"C'mon, the sooner we get these back to the Guild, the sooner we can look them over," Kira called out as she climbed into the cab of one of the trailers. "You guys alright to drive?"

"All good," Kagami flashed the others a thumbs up as she jumped the steps into another cab.

Hanami nodded as she climbed into hers a bit more slowly.

"Alright then, let's get truckin'!" Kira shouted out as they started up the vehicles and headed off.

* * *

**Professor Kato's Classroom, a little earlier**

* * *

"Welcome back guys," Ryu greeted as the students filed back into the classroom, before turning back to the person he was talking to, a bucket hat covering the majority of the person's blond hair and pair of golden colored eyes flashed over the students. "Don't really know what to tell you, I'm just a part-time test pilot, and the units _I _was testing had nothing to do with that project," he said to the person who nodded in understanding. "Feel free to wait for Kato to come back."

"Ummm, Hisanaga-sensei, who's she?" Fubuki asked curiously.

The confirmed woman gasped slightly at being figured out so quickly as Ryu chuckled. "Ah, just a representative from the homeland here to check up on a few projects Morgenroete is working on," he informed. "Good work catching onto Miss Yula's gender though."

The silverette blushed slightly at the praise. "Tha-thank you, sensei. I guess we'd better get back to work then," she nodded, but inwardly something felt off to her, although she couldn't tell exactly what. The woman practically reeked of tension, with a bit of surprise lingering from earlier.

Ryu chuckled as they got back to work, unable to escape the niggling sensation of something being wrong with the day. '_What is this feeling?_' he asked himself. '_Last time I felt this… Endymion…_'

Moving subtly he reached under his desk and patted the lockbox stored there to ensure it was still there. '_I hope it's just a feeling and nothing happens,_' he thought to himself. '_The innocence of these kids, I want to preserve it for as long as possible…_'

Fubuki appeared to be engrossed in her work, but every now and then she lifted her head up discreetly to check on the newcomer in their midst through the corner of her vision. Occasionally her eyes would flicker over to her teacher, although she would quickly focus on her work afterwards. _'Something doesn't quite feel right…'_ she mused.

Letting out a sigh Ryu was about to get up and check on their work when the entire colony shook. "No… it can't be!" he shouted out as the students cried out. "EVERYONE! TO THE SHELTER!" he roared out loudly before reaching under and grabbing hold of the lockbox, bringing it up he inputted his biometric data and it opened to reveal a flack vest with a customized MP5 and several clips. "The Colony is under attack!"

"Se-sensei?" Fubuki blinked in surprise and confusion seeing her teacher getting ready for war. "How do you know?"

"A gut feeling," he informed bluntly. "I'll be escorting you all to the shelter, you as well, Miss Yula," he sent a pointed look the blonde who seemed to bite back a retort. "Make sure you stay close everyone!"

"R-Right!" the silverette quickly ran over to her teacher's side, trying to keep her fraying nerves from breaking as the colony shook again.

Ryu quickly unlocked the door and led the group into a slowly filling stairwell and quickly turned off into a hallway. "Stay close!" he shouted out through the noise as the alarms began to blare.

Fubuki ran after Ryu, making sure to stay within at least two steps of him - in the situation they were in, she only really felt safe beside him. And no, she decided it had nothing to do with the gun in his hand.

As he looked behind him, Ryu cursed as he saw the blonde separate from the group. "I SAID STAY WITH ME CAGALLI!" he roared out as he suddenly doubled back. "Keep going!"

"Bu-but…" Fubuki froze for a moment while the others kept on going. At that precise moment, an explosion ripped through the wall ahead of her, scattering debris on the path ahead and blowing Fubuki back slightly. "Mirialla-san!"

"We're alright, no one got hurt!" came her friend's voice over the wall of debris now blocking the road. "Sensei, wha-what do we do now?"

Ryu growled as glared at the blonde who shrank back a bit from his anger. "SAI, GET EVERYONE TO THE SHELTERS!" he shouted out. "You two, on me and _do not separate again._"

"Ha-hai!" the silverette felt like she was seeing an all new side of her teacher. It did raise a flag in her mind though - what exactly had he gone through in the past? His reactions were definitely different from that of a normal civilian like her…

The blonde nodded slowly, quite aware just how dangerous the person in front of her was, before coming here, she had heard stories about him, and now meeting him, it was quite obvious those stories were quite real…

"We'll have to go to the shelter on the factory district, and if I'm right that's where the fighting will be the heaviest," Ryu explained as they began to move. "So I want you two to stay low and keep with me, understood?"

Fubuki nodded slowly as she tried to stretch her senses to her limit. At least it would give them an edge if they encountered anyone hostile… and she did trust Ryu implicitly when he said there would be heavy fighting ahead.

As they came to an exit to the hallway, the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard as they came closer. Ryu raised up a clenched fist, causing them to stop as he dropped to his knee and slowly crept to the doorway and peeked in, cursing slightly as he saw a fierce firefight for the G-Weapons underway. "I want you two to cross when I give the signal, stay low and move fast, I'll be drawing their fire so keep moving," Ryu ordered to the pair before coming around the corner and opened fire on several snipers on the catwalks. "Go! Now!"

Fubuki gave one more look at Ryu before she crouched down and started running across the center of the catwalk to stay out of sight in the direction he had pointed out.

Ryu cursed as he ducked back behind the wall as several rounds bounced off near where he was before popping back up to return fire. Seeing that the pair had made it across Ryu reached into his flak vest and pulled out a cylindrical object that he pulled a pin out of before tossing it, causing it to explode in a flash of blinding light that Ryu used to his advantage as he moved up next to the two girls. "This way, quickly!"

"I can't believe it, father… he betrayed us…" Cagalli mumbled as they ran. "Why… father?"

Fubuki winced as she felt Cagalli's sorrow hit her psyche. Sometimes she hated being an empath - sensing negative feelings had a tendency to give her a bad headache.

"He never did, this was done without his knowledge," Ryu informed as they ran. "if you're looking for someone to blame look at the Sahaku's, they're the ones who _made _the offer to OMNI."

"And you… Black Dragon?" Cagalli asked in a low growl. "What's your stake in this?"

"Nothing, I'm just a part time test pilot for a separate project," he replied. "But I know this, Morgenroete was using them as much as they were being used."

"Black Dragon?" a confused Fubuki tilted her head to one side.

"My old callsign when I was in OMNI Enforcer, Black Operations Division," Ryu replied quickly as they came up to the shelter. "Get in you two, I need to go secure the Morgenroete Prototypes."

Fubuki paused for a moment before running to the shelter and quickly activating the intercom. "Is there any more room in there? A friend and I need shelter!"

"_Dammit! I hate to say this, but this shelter is completely filled up and we can't take a single person more!" _came the reply in a gruff male voice.

"Oh no…" Fubuki sank to her knees in shock.

Ryu growled before punching a wall, his mind racing furiously. "C'mon, we're going to the hanger for the Morgenroete Prototypes," he announced as he gently pulled Fubuki to her feet. "I hate to say it, but… Fubuki-kun, I need you to pilot a mobile suit, can you do it?"

Fubuki's eyes widened as she stared incredulously at Ryu. "Bu-But sensei, I-I've only piloted workloaders before! A mobile suit is…"

"Is essentially no different," Ryu affirmed. "You won't have to fight, it's just to keep you safe until help arrives, alright, I'll be doing the fighting, don't worry, I won't let harm come to you."

"I… alright, sensei," Fubuki calmed down slightly at Ryu's reassuring tone. "I'll do it."

Ryu gave her a proud smile before he took off at a light trot, leading them deeper into the facility where the Morgenroete prototype lay in wait.

* * *

**With Kira and the others - Highway**

* * *

"What the hell, why are they shooting at us!" Kira shouted as she desperately tried to steer her transport out of the way of the gunfire from a group of ZAFT soldiers. "Can't they see the Junk Guild Emblem?"

"I'd like to find out myself!" Kagami swerved out of the way of a rocket that narrowly missed one of her trailer's wheels. "Where is the military anyway!?"

"Probably being kept busy if ZAFT's already this deep in the colony…" Hanami mused, somehow batting another RPG aside with the rear of her trailer. "Never thought we'd have to use that self-defense clause in the Junk Guild's charter this early."

Kira growled. "I hate to say it guys, but… I think we might have to sortie in our new machines," she announced as she saw a GiNN approach. "Yup, definitely going to have to…"

"Self-defense, right?" Kagami nodded as she turned on her truck's cruise control and powered right towards the GiNN while reaching for the nearest blunt object she could find. "And no killing unless absolutely necessary?"

"Yeah… Kagami-chan what are you doing?" Hanami blinked as she saw Kagami's truck accelerate towards the ZAFT mobile suit.

"Um, pulling a stunt right out of an action movie?" Kagami grinned as she bashed the rear window of her cab out with the butt of a rifle and climbed out of it. She landed between the cab and the trailer of the truck and quickly pulled the emergency release while jumping onto the ladder leading to the top of the trailer. "Yee haw!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING!?" Kira cried out as the cab sailed past her and missed the GiNN as it moved. "YOU FUCKING INSANE BITCH!"

"You missed by a country mile, Kagami-chan…" Hanami smacked her brow in exasperation.

"That was anticlimactic," her twin sister groaned, ignoring Kira's cussing as she dropped into the trailer, landing on top of a sleek mobile suit lying on its back. Kagami blinked twice. "Okay, I like this one."

Kira growled as she suddenly fishtailed her trailer, somehow managing to keep in in control before she repeated Kagami's maneuver, her cab, rolling off before climbing into her own trailer, and into the cockpit of her new mobile suit.

"Okay, I feel left out now," Hanami grumbled, not really having the guts to do what Kira and her twin sister had done. Nonetheless she turned on the truck's cruise control, opened the door and started to climb out onto the roof of her cab.

Kagami had already slid into the cockpit of her mobile suit and closed the cockpit hatch. Her fingers quickly flew across the keyboards as she scanned the OS, hoping that no one would decide to blow her coasting trailer up. "General Unified Network Dispersive Armament Module, mobile suit synthesis system… Nice OS name," she murmured as she powered up everything and ran a quick systems check. "Dammit, it's all over the place! I'm going to need to recalibrate everything on the fly!"

Kira looked over the Operating system as it power up in her cockpit:

**MOBILE SUIT OPERATION SYSTEM**

**/Version SP1 - ETAIN/**

**G**uardian

**U**nit

**N**etwork

**D**iverse

Sol**A**r-Powered

**M**odule

**G.U.N.D.A.M Solar System**

**ORB**

"THOSE FUCKING ASSHOLES!" Kira roared out. "THEY FUCKING STOLE MY HIGH EFFICIENCY SOLAR POWERED PANELS! I'M GOING TO BEND THEM OVER MY KNEE AND SPANK THEM SILLY!"

"Wow, I think Kira-chan just broke," Kagami commented idly as the restraints holding her mobile suit in place opened up together with the top of her trailer, allowing it to sit up… and quickly jump off in panic before the trailer nosedived off the edge of the highway to a fiery death. "Whoa! Too close!"

Kagami's new mobile suit featured large wings on its shoulders, with what appeared to be the nose of a fighter jet hinged on the rear, with a pair of large containers on either side of it. The mobile suit was coloured black with red highlights. She had managed to retrieve a large rifle to go with it from the trailer, thankfully.

"No time to stop and stare!" Hanami told herself as she made a short jump off the top of her cab onto the top of her trailer and climbed in.

Kira's unit, which was initially grey, soon became golden colored as she stood up the unit, activating the Phase Shift Armor, the numerous solar panels mounted on the body glistened in _Heliopolis'_ false sun, in stark contrast to the black trim surrounding them, as it moved, a large, almost jetpack, looking backpack was on its back and it was carrying a shield mounted on its left arm, a rifle with more solar panels in it's right and large bazooka looking object mounted on its lower back. "Etain Gundam, huh?" Kira murmured as she used the jetpack esque booster to launch herself out of the trailer. "I see… they weaponized my solar powered idea… but from the sounds of it… it was too expensive to use, huh?"

Hanami's own unit joined the other two moments later, an almost pure white mobile suit with blue highlights carrying a large shield with boosters on it and a large spike on the opposite end in its left arm, a rifle identical to Kagami's one in its right hand. A container sat on the right of its backpack, while a holder carrying an extra rifle was on its left. "_I got the Exodus. Kagami-chan?_"

"_Mine's called the Highwind. It's supposed to be transformable… but the idiots at Morgenroete never bothered to update the OS so I can't shift right now,_" Kagami groaned. "_By the way, Kira-chan, I see what you did there with the name of the… Gundam, huh._"

Kira giggled slightly in response. "Thanks," she said before turning to the GiNN who was now joined by two others. "But… I think we have other things to worry about…"

"_Alright, girls, shall we defend ourselves in the name of the Junk Guild?_" Kagami said with an exaggerated flourish.

Kira chuckled as after a quick check of the systems she had the Etain stow the rifle into a storage compartment on the Shield and drew out the two MW-SC-57 'Tanto' Beam Daggers that were stored in the thigh compartment of the unit. "Let's go!" she shouted, using a booster enhanced charge to attack the center GiNN, the unit dodging her initial attack.

"_I suppose we can't afford to cause any collateral damage to the colony, huh,_" Hanami mused as she carefully put the rifle on the ground and drew a beam saber from the thigh compartment of her unit in its place. "_Aim to disable, not kill,_" she said to herself as she ran forward using her shield as cover.

"_I don't think these guys will be doing the same though!_" Kagami ejected a pair of beam sabers into the air from the Highwind's knee compartments and grabbed them, holding them out to either side in a dual-wielding stance. "_But hey, it's self-defense._"

"And we of the Junk Guild are not allowed to kill, remember that, Kagami-chan," Kira advised as she fired her Igelstellung at the enemy GiNN forcing it off target as it tried to swipe at her.

"_Unless there's absolutely no choice, Kira-chan,_" Hanami quoted, parrying her adversary's slash as she took a slash of her own only for it to back off.

Kagami grunted as she wove from side to side to confuse the GiNN she was up against, using the lighter weight and speed of the Highwind to her advantage. "_Orya_!" she shouted, feinting to one side before ducking to the other and slicing her opponent's rifle in half as it tried to fire at her.

Kira's eyes narrowed as the GiNN went to pull out its rifle only for Kira to suddenly grab its arm and pull it in close to the Etain where Kira then used the Beam Dagger to stab at the central control cluster of the mobile suit, and twice more, severing the main power conduits, shutting down and disabling the unit completely. "Done and done," she announced.

"_That was too fast! Kira-chan, are you secretly a professional mobile suit pilot?_" Kagami groaned as she jumped over a slash, flipped over her opponent and countered with a series of slashes that beheaded it and cut its arms off.

Hanami bashed her opponent with her shield hard, sending it flying a short distance before she followed it up by activating the boosters on her shield to close the distance and use the spike on the end of her shield to impale the GiNN's right arm. A slash took off the left arm and a kick knocked the disabled GiNN to the ground, stunning its pilot.

Kira let out a relieved sigh as the final GiNN fell. "Let's get to the Guild and make sure that everyone is evacuated!" she called out. "Why the hell is ZAFT attacking _Heliopolis _though…"

"_Could it be that ZAFT wants the other prototypes Morgenroete was developing?_" Hanami suggested as she picked up her discarded rifle.

"_Seems to be the case,_" Kagami rejoined the other two with her own rifle.

Kira frowned slightly in response. "We better check out the Guild," she announced. "I have a bad feeling about this…"

* * *

**Morgenroete Prototype Hangar Facility**

* * *

"This way!" Ryu shouted as he led the two girls into the Hangar where several Prototype units were stored. "I see the Junk Guild already collected their payment…" he muttered to himself, noting three units that were missing and the four Astrays that were being moved. "Fubuki-kun, Cagalli, get into that one there!" he shouted out, pointing to a heavily armored unit standing in its birth. "It's armor should easily protect your from anything ZAFT has!" he informed before heading to another unit that looked similar to the Astrays, although its head was sleeker and had four 'eyes' instead of two. "Where are the E.C. ?"

"Same place, we never touched them!" A mechanic shouted out in return.

"Good," he muttered to himself as he powered up the unit. "Fubuki-kun, just think of the Ariete as a power loader, alright, you should be able to move it just fine."

"Alright…" Fubuki nodded hesitantly as she climbed into the cockpit of the grey-coloured mobile suit together with Cagalli, closing the cockpit hatch behind them. As she powered up the unit, she checked the OS - thankfully it was more or less operational, probably Ryu's own work.

As Fubuki familiarized herself with the controls, Ryu moved his unit over to a group of containers, each marked with the Lettered E.C.W.P with the words Sword, Cannon or Mobility written underneath. '_Since we'll be fighting inside the colony, the Sword Pack would be best,_' he thought to himself as the container opened, mechanical arms automatically loading a long and short physical swords to it's waist, a large rocket anchor onto its left forearm and finally a large condenser unit onto its left shoulder, with a large buster sword attached to it. "Fubuki-kun, you familiar with the controls now?" he asked her over the radio.

"_I think I got it,_" the silverette nodded as she powered up the Phase Shift armour of the mobile suit, turning the armour a darker gray with yellow highlights. "_Umm, Phase Shift on… all systems go._"

Ryu nodded. "Follow me," he said. "I'm going to try and get us to the Cargo Elevator that leads to the central shaft, we should be fairly safe there, but, our route will lead us straight to what seems to be ZAFTs main target, are you ready?"

"_I… I think I am,"_ Fubuki replied as the Ariete took a step, causing the ground around it to shake heavily._ "This mobile suit… feels so heavy!"_ she grunted, picking up a gigantic rifle from a nearby rack.

"It's a heavy weapons/Long-Range Bombardment type," Ryu explained as he led Fubuki outside. "Speed and lightness were sacrificed for heavy armor and powerful weapons."

"_Umm… I'm not going to get billed for property damage am I?"_ a bead of cold sweat rolled down Fubuki's brow at seeing the large footprints her mobile suit had left on the ground from its heavy steps.

Ryu chuckled. "No, we can always send ZAFT the bill for that," he informed humourously. "There should be a hover mode for ease of movement, can you find it?"

The Ariete stood still as Fubuki looked around for the correct switch. After a while the powerful thrusters on its legs and back activated, propelling it a short distance into the air and maintaining it like that. _"Got it."_

"Good work, Fubuki-kun," Ryu praised. "Although, I was hoping to wait until next semester to get you guys started on operating mobile suits."

"_I suppose we don't really have a choice at the moment…"_ the silverette sighed as the Ariete scanned the skies for threats. _"Sensei… why is ZAFT attacking _Heliopolis_ now?"_

Ryu sighed. "Because of the new Mobile Suits that Morgenroete and the Sahaku family was producing for OMNI," he explained. "They must've found out somehow and wanted to prevent OMNI from rolling them out, either by stealing them, or destroying them."

Fubuki was silent for a moment, not quite missing the flinch from the other person in the cockpit._ "I hate war,"_ she grumbled after a while.

"Honestly, so do I, Fubuki-kun," he informed, seconds before an alarm sounded in his cockpit. "Enemy units, 2 o'clock high! Fubuki-kun, keep moving to the Cargo Elevator!" Ryu shouted out as his unit drew out the Long and Short swords, their edges beginning beginning to glow and their around them wavered as they became superheated. "I'll take them out!"

"_S-Sensei, I think they're more interested in me…" _Fubuki groaned when two of the three incoming GiNNs broke off towards the Ariete as it powered towards the cargo elevator.

Ryu let out a small tsk, before throwing the short sword in his left hand at one of the units chasing Fubuki, catching it in the cockpit, a scant foot away from the Ultracompact Battery before turning to cut the sword of the GiNN attacking him in half and quickly cut the mobile suit's cockpit, being careful to avoid the Battery once again.

"_Um… sensei… I can't stop,"_ Fubuki gasped as the remaining GiNN landed in front of her and pulled out its sword. She screamed when it started swinging at her, only to stop and blink in surprise when the sword simply bounced off the Ariete's armour… and shattered while the heavier mobile suit simply kept its momentum while basically _crashing through_ the GiNN, disintegrating the entire right side of it simply from the impact. _"Oops?"_

"Well, guess I should've seen that one coming," Ryu announced with a sigh as he fired his own thrusters to catch up to Fubuki after retrieving his short sword. "I suppose I _should _say nice job, even _if _it was an accident…"

"_Umm… thank you?"_ the silverette wasn't sure if she should feel proud or ashamed of her… _achievement_.

"Yeah… anyways, we're closing in on the Factory where the OMNI suits were being hel-, aw hell," he cursed as the factory exploded, a pair of unit that his IFF quickly labeled as the Strike and Aegis. "Who's in control of them though… Fubuki-kun, ease up on the throttle to bring yourself to a stop."

"_Okay,"_ Fubuki nodded as the Ariete slowly coasted to a stop, firing a few of its maneuvering thrusters forward to help. She hefted the rifle with both hands, if only to look a bit more threatening.

A GiNN landed nearby, next to the Aegis as the two pilots seemed to exchange words, the two of them exchanging looks between Ryu and Fubuki and the Strike. Tightening his grip the controls Ryu snarled as five more GiNNs landed. "Fubuki-kun, I'm sorry, but… you may have to fight…" he informed apologetically as he eyed the six GiNNs, the Aegis taking off and leaving the battlefield.

Fubuki gripped her controls tightly. "_I… I guess we have no other choice,_" she nodded grimly.

"Sorry," Ryu repeated. "Protect the Strike! Knowing OMNI their OS is complete crap, so it doesn't matter _who _the pilot is, they won't be able to fight with it! I'll take out as many GiNNs as I can! Make sure not to use your rifle's high-density beam mode or you'll damage the colony!"

The silverette scanned through the cockpit controls as quickly as she could until she could find the settings for her rifle. Checking the readout, she realized it had three modes - high-density beam, linear cannon and anti-ship sword. Thinking quickly, she selected the linear cannon mode causing the rifle in her mobile suit's hands to hum as she raised it with both hands and aimed at one of the GiNNs.

As Fubuki began to engage the GiNN that was advancing towards her and the Strike, Ryu engaged the five other GiNNs, stowing away his long and short sword he pulled the large Buster Sword off the Condenser Unit a brief sparkle of light was seen around its edge before the crackling of electricity was heard, and anyone outside of the mobile suit would've had the sharp tang of ozone fill their mouth and nostrils. "Let's dance," he announced, holding the Electro Mirage Colloid Particle Buster Sword, dubbed Electro Colloid Buster Sword, or ECBS for short, at the ready.

Meanwhile, Fubuki pulled the trigger, sending a 120mm tungsten spike flying down the barrel of the linear cannon. A loud crackle resounded through the air as the projectile exited the gun, trailing a cloud of plasma even as its target began to move, the projectile embedding itself in the ground beside it. _"Of course that wasn't going to hit…"_ the silverette groaned. The GiNN responded in kind, a salvo of 76mm shells from its heavy machine gun bouncing off the Ariete's Phase Shift armour ineffectively.

"If the target is moving, lead your shots, the onboard AI Assist System should help you with that!" Ryu shouted as he made a wide slash with the ECBS, electricity arcing off of the blade onto the heavy swords or rifles they had on hand, the electricity actually causing one of the rifle's ammo to explode as the gunpowder was ignited, causing a chain reaction, taking the arm with it, the other ones found their arms not responding as their systems were overloaded.

"_Lead my shots…"_ Fubuki repeated, spinning the Ariete around as the GiNN tried to flank her and taking aim with her rifle again._ "Wait, if I stop him from moving…"_ she fired the rocket anchor on her left shoulder, embedding it in the ground ahead of him, forcing him to stop for a moment while she squeezed the trigger again. This time, the tungsten spike punched a hole in the waist of the mobile suit, practically splitting it in half. _"Yes!"_

"Nice thinking, Fubuki-kun," Ryu praised as he took advantage of the enemy pilots surprise to swing his sword again, this time the Blade, superheated and extremely sharp, sliced through four of the units, only one of them quick enough to jump out of the way. "We got ourselves a smart one here," he mused as the two squared off before the GiNN dropped it's weapons, signalling a surrender before activating his thrusters, flicking the radio to Open Comms he spoke. "Be glad I'm an ORB pilot and am willing to let this go, for now," he announced. "Tell your commander that the units he has should satisfy the brass."

He flicked the comm back to direct laser link. "Are you alright, Fubuki-kun?"

"_Ye-yeah…"_ Fubuki watched the mostly-intact GiNN, heaving a sigh of relief when she saw the pilot climb out of the cockpit. She didn't really feel like taking a life… the sheer thought of it made her queasy.

Ryu smiled slightly before turning to the Strike. "Pilot of the GAT-X105 Strike, Identify yourself," he ordered. "Refuse… well… I'm sure that my sword can melt that Phase-Shift Armor of yours."

"_This is Lieutenant Murrue Ramius. I'm an officer with OMNI Enforcer. May I ask who you are?" _came a distinctly female reply on open comms.

"Ryu Hisanaga, Test Pilot for Morgenroete," Ryu informed, lowering the sword before returning it to the condenser unit to recharge the Mirage Colloid Particles - or MCP for short. "OMNI has a lot to answer for, for bringing ZAFT here… for now, let's regroup at the park, there should be enough room to park our mobile suits for the time being."

"_Ri-right,"_ Murrue replied as the Strike began stumbling awkwardly towards the park.

'_Going to have to fix that OS, goddammit, could this day get _any _worse?_' Ryu thought to himself.

"_Umm, sensei… I don't think Sai-san managed to lead the others to safety,"_ Fubuki said over the comms as the Ariete turned to look at a few small figures standing out in the open gawking at the three mobile suits.

"GODDAMMIT MURPHY!" Ryu shouted out to the heavens, causing the occupants of the Ariete and Strike to look at the X Frame oddly.

* * *

**With the Junkers Three**

* * *

"Alright, so we've established that everyone else managed to get out," Hanami began as the Exodus looked at the Etain and the Highwind. "What now?"

"_Just a sec… lemme fix this goddamned transformation system…"_ Kagami growled as the sounds of furious typing could be heard over the comms. _"Can I murder the guy who coded this? This is just painful to look at! It's a disgrace to programmers around the world!"_

"_I second that idea,_" Kira added. "_Their attempts at an OS makes _real _programmers like me weep!_"

Hanami rolled her eyes as she looked at her own faulty OS, which had only been patched up enough to move and fight slightly earlier. "I know, but we need to think of what to do next. Without a ship there's no way we'll be able to get out of here, and from what I can see when I hacked into the spaceport cameras, all the transports big enough to carry mobile suits have been destroyed."

Kira hummed for a moment. _"How about we check out Morgenroete,"_ she suggested, _"I mean, including us, there are five Junker crews here at the Guild, so if we do find something I'm sure we could make it work, plus it'll give you a chance to look for Fubuki-chan."_

"I sure hope she's alright…" Hanami sighed worriedly as she typed furiously on her keyboard in an attempt to hack into the camera network around Morgenroete. "I tried to check on her, but it seems that Morgenroete's been hit the worst by the attack and I can't get into their network."

"_She'll be fine, Hanami-chan,"_ her twin sister reassured her. _"Fubuki-chan's a smart one, she'll figure something out."_

"_We'll find her,_" Kira assured. "_I'm certain she got to the shel- huh?_"

"_Kira-chan, what's up?" _Kagami asked as she looked up from her work.

"_I'm picking up three mobile suits nearby,_" Kira informed. "_Not GiNNs, two of their IFFs read as ORB, the last one as OMNI…_"

"_Okaay…"_ the pilot of the Highwind mused. _"Should we go check it out? I'm almost done anyway, you two can piggyback on the Highwind so we can get there faster."_

"_I personally think we should…_" Kira admitted. "_It's quite obvious ZAFT doesn't care that this is a Neutral Colony, nor that we're with the Junk Guild…_"

"_Aww, I was hoping the Junk Guild markings we put on our Gundams would at least help us get shot at less,"_ Kagami grumbled.

"As Kira-chan just established, ZAFT doesn't really care for that," Hanami rolled her eyes. "We'll just have to see where this whole mess takes us."

Kira nodded in agreement. "_Plus, I'd like to have _professional _pilots doing most of the fighting…_" she admitted. "_Let us know when you're ready, Kagami-chan._"

"_I'm done,"_ Kagami nodded as the Highwind shifted, the fighter-like nose on its back swinging up to cover its head, its shoulders folding downwards as the legs split apart to reveal the full length of the powerful thrusters inside. The fins on its knees slightly swung backwards to become tail stabilizers while the Highwind's beam rifle attached to its side. After it was done transforming, its wings swung so the thrusters pointed directly downwards to hover.

"_Right, let's get going then,_" Kira announced as she used her own thrusters to boost herself up and grabbed onto a handhold alongside Hanami. "_Can the Highwind handle it?_"

"_In slightly lower gravity yes. Better don't try this on Earth though,"_ Kagami checked a few readouts. _"Hmm, may have to reinforce the frame a bit after this is over."_

"Easily done, that," Hanami nodded as Kagami's hand hovered over the throttle. "Good to go."

"_Alright… make sure to fasten your seatbelts!"_ the red-eyed silverette gunned the throttle, tilting the wings to their normal position and speeding off in the direction of the three new contacts.

* * *

**With the Morgenroete Group**

* * *

Ryu sighed as he powered down the X Frame Gundam into a standby state, casting a regretful look over towards the two girls coming out of the Ariete, namely Fubuki. '_I took this job, because I didn't want to fight again,_' he thought to himself. '_And I wanted to start the development team because I didn't want my students _to _fight… dammit…_'

Letting out another sigh he hit the cockpit release, opening the X Frame's cockpit, before using the decent line to lower himself to the ground. "Are you two alright?" he called out as he moved over to them. "Any injuries?"

Fubuki paused for a moment to look over herself. "I… I think I'm fine," she announced as she patted herself down, wincing slightly when her hands slightly brushed over her chest, a motion that wasn't quite missed by Ryu.

"I'm all right too," the blonde standing beside her gave a curt but short nod, a grim expression on her face as she turned to look up at, or rather glare at the Strike.

Ryu nodded, sending a concerned look to Fubuki. "Are you alright, Fubuki-kun?" he asked in concern reaching out to her. "Did your chest hit the restraints to hard?"

"No, no, I'm okay," the silverette quickly shook her head.

Ryu frowned, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Fubuki-kun," he said in a firm tone. "I need to know if you're injured, even a cracked rib can be dangerous if you're piloting."

"I-I-It's nothing!" she quickly spun out of her teacher's grasp, seemingly on reflex as she shook her hands in a bit of an exaggerated position in front of her. Another wince as her body protested the sudden motion.

"Fubuki-kun," Ryu repeated in a tone more reminiscent of a commanding officer and he closed the distance again. "It's alright, please, trust me," he requested, once again placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "If you're injured, I can help treat the damage."

Fubuki took a few slow steps back, her cheeks blushing from the close contact with her crush. As she did, she suddenly tripped over a small rock and started falling backwards with her arms flailing wildly in an attempt to regain her balance.

Reacting quickly, Ryu's hand darted out and captured her hand, pulling slightly harder than intended, causing her to jerk forward, colliding with his chest, Ryu blinking as he heard a loud snap, followed by a peculiar feeling of two soft, pillowy like objects cushioning between the two of them…

"A-aaa… Aaaah…" Fubuki's eyes were wide with shock as the bindings around her chest broke, releasing a large pair of low E-cup sized orbs of flesh from their confines as the shirt under her jacket nearly tore from the added strain and hiked up to show her midriff. She quickly wrapped her arms around Ryu in panic, fisting her hands in the back of his shirt.

"Ah," Ryu said as he began to realize what happened. "I take it you bound your breasts?"

A thoroughly embarrassed Fubuki nodded slightly and gripped Ryu tighter, squashing her assets against him even more strongly. "P-Please don't move… the-they'll see…" she whispered, casting furtive glances in the direction of her classmates, all the while blushing brightly.

Ryu nodded slowly. "Sai, in the cockpit of the X Frame, there's a first aid kit, could you get the gauze from it, please," he requested. "And, don't ask why."

The blonde nodded quickly and headed off to grab the said item. "Tolle, take Mir back to Morgenroete, look for a hangar and see if you can find a container with the word 'Striker Pack' on it, bring it here, you'll need to use a transport for that," he requested, causing the couple to nod before heading off themselves.

After everyone else had left, Fubuki slowly let go of Ryu before she stepped away, wrapping her arms around her unbound chest nervously as she looked in every direction other than at Ryu, completely well aware of what she had inadvertently done to her teacher. "R-R-Ryu-sensei… ple-please don't te-tell anyone about thi-this…" she stammered as she rubbed her thighs together.

Ryu nodded in understanding, patting her shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, Fubuki-kun, your secret is safe with me," he informed. "I take it your own… size, embaresses you?"

The silverette nodded furtively, the motion doing interesting things to her assets. "I-I'm an empath… so when I used to go o-out before I sta-started binding the-them, pe-people would sta-stare at me a-and…" she found herself unable to continue her explanation as she started tearing up slightly.

Ryu let out a small sigh as he gingerly pulled her into a gentle, reassuring hug, being mindful not to press up against her assets. "It's alright," he soothed. "Trust me, while I'll admit to saying they're the largest I've seen, I'm not _that _primitive."

"T-Thank you, se-sensei," she whispered tearfully as she forgot herself for a moment and leaned into the embrace, ending up doing the same thing Ryu had been trying to avoid without realizing it. "I-I just don't like it when pe-people think lewd thi-things about me… When they un-un-undress me with the-their eyes… especially when I can feel it…" she trailed off, shivering slightly.

Ryu gently stroked her hair, suppressing his body's own instincts as Fubuki's bust pressed against him. "Well, I can assure you I will _not _be doing that," he assured. "I'd like to think that I'm better than that…"

The silverette just nodded and hugged Ryu back softly, drawing comfort from his proximity and the heat radiating off his body. Now that she was touching him, she could quite easily feel the rippling muscles underneath his shirt - not too buff, just right. She could feel every contraction and relaxation in his chest muscles as he breathed in deeply, his hot breath on her head…

Ryu's eyebrow rose slightly as Fubuki's face began to grow redder and redder as they hugged. "Fubuki-kun?" he asked. "Are you alright?"

"B-by the way, se-sensei…" she began in a low whisper. "Wh-why is it that yo-you're the only o-one I ca-can't read?"

Ryu rose an eyebrow in surprise. "You can't read me?" he asked in surprise. "Huh… I have no idea why… weird…"

Fubuki just blushed and looked aside for the others. "Umm… shouldn't I go hi-hide somewhere so I can… fi-fix my bindings in pri-private before anyone sees m-me?"

"Right… go ahead and go up into the cockpit of the Ariete and I'll bring the gauze up for you to use," Ryu assured as he took a quick look around. "Go, now."

The silver-haired pilot nodded as she took another look around to reassure herself before timidly running back towards the Ariete, careful to avert her eyes from Ryu's face. _'Whawhawhawhat have I done!?' _she mentally screamed at herself.

Ryu sighed softly as he looked down at his hand, the one that he used to to stroke her hair. '_It's… been a long time… since someone sought _me _out for comfort and reassurance,_' he thought to himself. '_It was… nice…_'

As Fubuki settled into her cockpit seat, still blushing brightly, she put her hands on her chest in an attempt to calm herself down, still somewhat able to feel Ryu's body heat all over her chest and arms. "He was so warm…" she whispered to herself. "And so kind…"

"Sensei, here it is," Sai informed as he passed Ryu a roll of Gauze. "Where's Fubuki?"

"In the Ariete, it's a… personal matter," Ryu informed. "Why don't you go and see if the other two ladies need help with anything," he said, gesturing to Ramius and Cagalli. "I'll run this up to her."

Fubuki was trying to somehow extract the bindings without taking her shirt off - it was proving rather hard considering how much tighter it was now, and the bandages were getting very uncomfortable. She winced as they started chafing against her sensitive peaks, compounded by the fact that she had been pressing her body against her crush earlier. "Definitely going to have to take this off…" she muttered.

Ryu sighed in realization as Fubuki had used the ascent line to go up, rather than bothering to ask her to lower it, he began climbing up the leg of the Ariete.

The silverette sighed as she pulled off her shirt and checked her bindings - indeed, they were completely useless now. She shivered slightly as the cold wind hit her, but quickly pulled off the remaining bindings… just a certain former pilot reached his hand up over the cockpit hatch and pulled himself up.

"Fubuki-kun, I brought your banga-" Ryu started, only to freeze at the sight of Fubuki's twin globe's of flesh swaying slightly. "Erk."

"Se-se-se…" Fubuki stammered, staring back at her teacher dumbly as her brain processed the information. Her teacher who was also her crush staring at her, check. Her staring right back, check. Her bindings broken and laying off to the side uselessly, check. Her state of dress…

Ryu was frozen, unable to do anything, the only thing that kept him from falling was his frozen grip that was unrelenting in his pressure. A cold and clinical part of him, used mostly for combat situation, noted how his blood seemed to both rush and leave at the same time, creating an odd phenomenon of paling and blushing at the same time.

"_What's going on over here?"_ a distinctly female voice rang out through the sky as a pair of mobile suits landed on the ground nearby, a shiny golden coloured one and a white one. Soon afterwards, a black mobile suit slowly floated down to join the rest as well.

The teens looked up from what they were doing, shirking back slightly although the trio had their weapons relaxed. _"Huh, they look like students," _a relaxed voice came from the black one, also female as the mobile suit relaxed its grip on its rifle.

Ryu still remained frozen, only that cold clinical part of his mind registering the words being spoken.

"_Hey, isn't that Fubuki-chan in that cockpit?"_ the pilot of the black mobile suit pointed out.

"_Oh yeah. Fubuki-chan!"_ the white mobile suit boomed out, taking a single step towards the Ariete before freezing as the sensors whirred and focused on the cockpit, the top-naked person in the cockpit… and the person hanging on the hatch staring at her..

"IYAAAAAA!" Fubuki finally broke out of her funk as she screamed and lashed out with a hand, slapping Ryu so hard that he lost his grip on the hatch and fell to the ground, although he reflexively managed to correct his fall to land perfectly on the ground without breaking anything.

Even as he landed, Ryu's mind refused to operate properly as it was stuck, and that was not due to any perverseness on his part… rather… it was the overwhelming shock of seeing his student's state of undress that caused it.

"_Kagami-chan."_

"_Yep."_

Killing intent began to heavily saturate the air, causing the teens around them to start leaking cold sweat in fear even as the black and the white mobile suit seemed to loom heavily over them. At the same time, several large mechanical Noh masks appeared floating in the air around them, some black-coloured with red eyes and some white with blue eyes, all of them glowing and releasing copious amounts of ominous-looking fog around them.

The sight of the masks was enough to jolt Ryu out of his frozen state as he blinked and looked around. "Oh dear," he muttered to himself as he palmed his face. "And Fubuki-kun didn't even grab the gauze…"

The black and white mobile suits raised their rifles as one and aimed them at Ryu.

The golden-black colored unit actually brought its hand up and _facepalmed _itself as the two other units prepared to enact a murder. "I would kindly ask, that you don't do that," Ryu called out. "That," he pointed up to the cockpit of the Ariete. "Was an accident, I didn't know she was half naked at the time."

"_Riiiight…"_ the black and white suits drawled in unison as they slightly lowered their rifles only to raise them again. _"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! NO ONE PERVS ON OUR LITTLE SISTER!"_ they started firing at the comparatively smaller figure, beam fire lancing out of their rifles and burning holes in the ground as the soldier-turned-teacher started running around in an impressive display of agility and speed to dodge.

"Random acts of violence inside of the Colony using beam weapons is…" Ryu began with an annoyed mutter. "PROHIBITED!" at his last word all light seemed to fade as a monstrous rumbling was heard, a pair of burning gold draconic eyes was seen in the darkness as a bit of light flashed off what seemed to be pitch black scales.

"**Now…**" the Draconic creature began. "**Will we talk civilly, or shall we escalate this more?**"

The black and white units actually recoiled slightly in shock, although they recovered quickly enough to bring out more Noh masks that all merged together to form a giant mechanical Noh mask that was half black and half white coloured, with heterochromatic red and blue eyes. **"Family is family!"** the mask spoke in a demonic yet mechanical voice. **"She's our little sister, and we're not letting a perv like you get close to her!"**

"_STOOP!"_ Fubuki's voice rang out as the Ariete stepped in between the two warring factions, its hands outstretched to either side with its palms held open in a calming gesture. _"Hanami-nee, Kagami-nee! It was really an accident!"_

The Noh mask blinked almost comically.

The Dragon sighed before it winked out of existence, leaving only Ryu standing on the ground scratching the back of his head. "I was bringing this gauze up to her," Ryu informed holding up the roll of gauze he was still holding onto. "Because her… erm… _personal issue_… was acting up."

The Noh mask blinked again before fading into thin air as well, the two mobile suits relaxing their weapons. _"I… see,"_ one of them said as their cockpit hatches opened. A pair of silver-haired girls - twins, Ryu realized, jumped out of the cockpits, grabbing onto the descent lines and sliding down. They had the decency to look embarrassed at their earlier outburst, a slight red coating their cheeks as they scratched the back of their heads nervously in almost identical patterns.

Ryu sighed as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm Ryu Hisanaga, Fubuki-kun is one of my students over in Kato's lab," he informed, introducing himself. "I instruct them on Mobile Suit and Heavy-Class Loader Production and Equipment Modification."

"I'm… Hanami Yukikaze," the blue-eyed silverette blushed. "This is my twin sister, Kagami Yukikaze, and that's Kira Yamato," she gestured at the last unit in the trio, whose pilot was just disembarking. "We're all from the Junk Guild… and Kagami-chan and I are… awfully sorry for shooting at you just now," she ducked her head in shame. "I guess we just… overreacted."

Ryu simply shook his head. "I can understand wanting to protect your family, I can think of worse reasons to attack someone," he informed forgivingly. "Believe me, I would've done the same in your position, although, I would lead the shots."

Kagami raised an eyebrow in confusion. "That's what you want to point out considering we were trying to kill you a moment ago? Then again, we WERE trying to lead our shots - what kind of reflexes do you have anyway? You were jumping around all over the place too quickly."

"More importantly, how's Fubuki-chan? Why is she piloting?" Hanami quickly changed the topic worriedly as she stared up towards the Ariete's cockpit. "Wait, don't answer the second question," she sighed as she noticed the smoking wrecks of the ZAFT GiNNs lying off to the side.

Ryu nodded as he sighed. "The two units, the Ariete, that your sister is piloting, and the black one behind me, are apart of the Mobile Suit Development team I was developing, and that I was hoping to recruit your sister and her classmates into," he informed. "It's was the best thing I could think of after we found out the shelter was filled to capacity."

"Oh, that explains why you guys are still around here…" Kagami looked around at the college students, noting how some of them were still looking a little scared - probably from their combined killing intent just now.

Hanami gestured at the gauze. " Do you mind if we bring that up for her? She'll probably need some _female_ help with it," she particularly stressed the fourth last word, her somewhat frosty tone making it clear that she wasn't asking, but rather demanding.

Ryu shrugged looking rather unfazed by the demand. "Sure," he agreed, tossing the roll. "And let her know I'm sorry alright, I know she's rather self-conscious about her bust."

The blue-eyed silverette nodded as she jumped on the descent line Fubuki had lowered for her from the Ariete's cockpit, leaving her twin sister behind to look around curiously. Hanami was actually surprised slightly when she reached the top to see a still top-naked Fubuki cradling her assets nervously. "Whoa, Fubuki-chan," she blinked.

"He saw my breasts…" she whispered, apparently not sure whether to feel mortified or embarrassed or happy or a mixture of them all.

Hanami just sighed and started unwrapping the roll of gauze as she stepped into the cramped cockpit and started helping her little sister fix her bindings. "Honestly, doing this is kind of bad for your body you know," she added as she caught a wince of pain from Fubuki.

"It always hurts me so much more when I end up catching what other people are thinking of me though…" Fubuki sighed, using the time to recover. "I… I just wished I could control it better. Even if I bind my chest, I still get enough people thinking lewdly about me…"

"I still remember when Kagami-chan and I could hear everything the other was thinking when we first started out," Hanami chuckled slightly in reminiscence. "We'll help you out, and if we don't really help enough, you can probably ask Hisanaga-san for help."

Fubuki immediately blushed a bright red as she wrapped her arms closer around herself.

"So you do like him," the elder silverette smiled. "Look, I'm not gonna tease you about it like Kagami-chan probably will later, but I just want you to be careful about this. Are you absolutely sure he's the right person for you and that it's not some kind of puppy love?"

The younger silverette thought for a moment before nodding slightly.

"You know you still have to let us do a background check on him first before we let you go any further… than that flashing just now," Hanami casually said.

Fubuki ducked her head in shame, wincing as her sister pulled hard on the gauze.

"He's sorry for getting an eyeful by the way," Hanami sighed as she started tying a knot. "But quite honestly you do look a lot better unbound."

"I… I forgive him, it was just an accident after all…" Fubuki looked at her right hand, which was still throbbing slightly from the slap just now. "Although I should apologize too… for slapping him."

"Ye… yeah, at least you don't have to apologize for trying to kill him with a beam rifle…" a sheepish Hanami rubbed the back of her head as she handed Fubuki's shirt to her.

The younger Yukikaze blushed as she pulled the shirt on, noting absently that her sister had gotten the size slightly off and it was still a bit tight. "Hanami-nee, I usually have it smaller…" she whispered.

"Gimme a moment…" Hanami produced a pair of rubber bands and started tying Fubuki's hair. The two sat there in silence for a moment until the younger sibling had a small pair of long twintails on the sides of her head, trailing down her front until they came to a rest slightly above her waist. "Mmm, you want to grab his attention, right? We gotta make you at least look different from Kagami-chan and I - cuter is definitely the way to go."

Fubuki pouted slightly but acquiesced regardless.

Ryu sighed as he climbed into the cockpit of the X-Frame to check the radio frequency to see if the Assault Carrier that the Earth Alliance was building was around in some way. '_Knowing ZAFT, they'll make another attempt to either capture or destroy the units gathered here right now,_' he thought to himself. '_If this keeps up… I'll have to bring up some old habits that I was hoping to keep buried…_'

Tapping the console he let out a small hum. "At least they didn't obtain the Etain Gundam," he muttered, looking over to the golden hued, black trimmed mobile suit. "If they obtained the Solar Power that the Etain uses… it would be… troubling…"

An alert sounded in the cockpit as the RADAR pinged a ZAFT IFF. "INCOMING MOBILE SUIT!" Ryu shouted out over the speakers. "I don't care what unit is in the trailer, load it onto the Strike!"

"Sheesh, and I just got out of the Highwind too!" Kagami complained as she climbed back into her mobile suit and knelt down with it to pick up Hanami as she jumped out of the Ariete, ferrying her to the Exodus.

"So much for that short reprieve," Hanami grumbled as she hastily booted up her unit. "Hisanaga-san, just one mobile suit?"

"Affirmative, looks like a CGUE-Type, and to my knowledge, those are only being rolle"

"Well, he must be really confident if he thinks he can take on 6 mobile suits solo... any clue who's in it?" Kagami asked.

"Affirmative, looks like a CGUE-Type, and to my knowledge, those are only being rolled out for their aces and commanders…" he informed as he quickly brought the X-Frame to full power and checked the energy readout. '_Still good… I have about 25 minutes of combat time with the current energy,_' "Fubuki-kun, remain near the Strike, the unit's weapons shouldn't hurt you, so please protect your classmates."

_"G-got it!"_ The Ariete stood up and prepared its shield as it stepped in front of the Strike and the college students, who were huddled near the trailer.

"_The trailer is carrying the Launcher Striker Pack!_" Ramius informed as she worked at the controls desperately to move the unit. "_I'll provide fire support with the Agn-_"

"If you even _think _of deploying the Agni, I _will _eviscerate your goddamn SOUL!" Ryu threatened harshly. "That is a surefire thing to blow a hole in the colony!"

"_And that's why I'm not using my rifle's beam cannon mode..._" Fubuki nodded.

"You three, do you mind helping ensure the protection of the students?" he asked the three Junk Guild Members. "You don't have to fight, just hold off the enemy in case he breaks past me!"

"_No problem!_" Hanami called out as the Exodus formed up together with the Ariete.

"_Ugh, I don't have a shield, but okay!_" the Highwind jumped in as well.

"_I can do that,_" Kira agreed. "_But… are you sure you can handle it?_"

"Yeah, I may not have been on the lists, but… I was an ace pilot at one point," Ryu informed with a grin. "Plus, this X-Frame is nothing to sneeze at."

"_An ace pilot?_" Fubuki blinked. She felt like she was learning something new about her teacher every passing moment.

"Yeah… Former OMNI Special Operations Commando Pilot, Codename: Black Dragon," Ryu informed, an odd smile on his face. "I mostly dealt with Hijacking enemy mobile suits, but… I am still an ace in my own right I suppose…"

The Yukikaze siblings' eyes bugged out when they heard the news, as they stared at the X-Frame incredulously. "_Former OMNI special ops!?_" Kagami gasped.

Ryu let out a tired sigh. "I'll explain later, for now though… we have bigger problems to deal with," he informed as the entry shaft exploded, a white CGUE barreling through the smoke, closely followed by a Moebius Zero. "Looks like… Rau le Creuset and Mu la Flaga…"

"_Of all the ZAFT aces to come after us..._" Hanami groaned.

"I can handle him just fine," Ryu assured as the thrusters to the X-Frame began to power up. "Just be on the ready incase he manages to slip past me."

"_Don't worry about us!_" Kagami called out as the Highwind's wings ejected and she grabbed onto handles that had come out from their bases, wielding them like a pair of swords.

"Understood," Ryu informed as his voice became slightly monotone as he launched into the air. "Engaging combat protocols."

"_G-good luck, Ryu-sensei!_" Fubuki chipped in as well, blushing when she realized she had accidentally used his first name instead of his family name.

"Thank you, Fubuki-kun," Ryu whispered, his voice returning to normal for a moment before he focused back on the enemy. "Rau le Creuset, multi-ranged specialist, and has a High Spatial Awareness granting him pernatural reflexes, Mu la Flaga, also has High Spatial Awareness, and uses it for multi-directional attack vectors… Priority Target, Rau le Creuset, Mu la Flaga set as a Third Party until further notice, beginning lethal vectors…"

"_It's like he's a robot or something..._" Hanami remarked.

"_Agreed,_" Kagami nodded.

"_A combat persona?_" Kira pondered. "_If he was special ops… it wouldn't be unlikely… but to take it to that level…_"

The group looked back up to the battle where Ryu dove straight into the fight, the long and short swords being narrowly dodged by the white CGUE who quickly registered the newest threat and started firing the Vulcan gun mounted on the shield at Ryu's X-Frame only for him to dodge out of the way.

"_Yipes!_" Hanami almost forgot to block the stray bullets with her shield before they could hit the civilians.

Ryu remained silent as he continued his assault on Rau, sheathing the longsword for the buster sword that quickly crackled with electricity as he slashed it at the CGUE, the Ace Model Mobile suit's EMP protection defended it from the electrostatic's EMP effect. "Die," he declared as the shortsword closed in dangerously close to the cockpit of the CGUE, the metal actually melting from the heat being produced from the blade. Rau retaliated with an attempt to kick the X-Frame, only for Ryu to use his thrusters for a quick boosting dodge, even as Mu took the chance to dive in, the Linear Cannon firing and impacting against the CGUE, sending it tumbling away.

"_Tch, the Black Dragon, huh..._" a very familiar male voice came over open comms as the ZAFT machine righted itself. "_What an... unpleasant surprise._"

"Rau le Creuset," Ryu acknowledged, still speaking in monotone, even as he continued his attempts to bisect the CGUE, white coat commander making full use of his Spatial Awareness to keep himself from being cut to pieces. "You will die."

"_I see, but I don't quite think I will be the one to fall today,_" Rau chuckled as his CGUE spun around, cutting one of Mu's gun barrels in half while jetting downwards to escape a slash to the cockpit. "_Going for the kill already, are we?_"

"I will eliminate the Priority Target," Ryu affirmed as Rau barely got out of the way of the rocket anchor that was launched at him. "You… are a dangerous threat," he confirmed, anger leaking into his monotone. "I will _not _allow this Colony to fall! I WILL NOT FAIL THEM!"

"_You have gotten soft, Black Dragon,_" the masked ace went on the offensive, launching his own rocket anchor to entangle Ryu's own, before cutting the cord and firing his shield-mounted Vulcan, specifically aiming for the X-Frame's joints.

Ryu brought his Buster Sword around and used it as an impromptu shield to protect the X-Frame's body, which did not have the Phase Shift like the G-Weapons or the other units produced by Morgenroete, but instead used the power saving and light Foam metal armor that was rather fragile. "Perhaps, but… I have more conviction," Ryu affirmed. "And I _will _not be defeated so easily."

"_Then so be it. You will learn eventually what true strength is!_" Rau used the moment when the X-Frame's vision was blocked by its own sword to duck low and take a swipe at its legs with its physical sword only to be forced away by a linear cannon shot. "_Hmm, it's rude to interrupt a battle between gentlemen_," the white CGUE looked down at the Ariete, which had its gun raised toward it.

Fubuki herself was a little surprised at what she had done.

"Fubuki-kun!" Ryu shouted out as Rau dived down to attack the Ariete. "DAMMIT!" he cursed as his machine was unable to catch up with Rau's with the basic thrusters. "If only I loaded the Mobility equipment!"

"_Oh no you don't!_" Kagami launched the Highwind up towards Rau, trying to take a chunk out of him with her swords, which had sprouted beam blades along their cutting edges.

The CGUE raised its own shield, parrying the blow off to one side before kicking it aside and continuing on without missing a beat. The Exodus attempted to intercept it by firing its beam rifle at it, although Hanami's shots were dodged quite easily.

"_You're not touching our little sister!_" Hanami growled as the extra rifle on its back swung under its shoulder to lend the extra firepower even while drawing a beam saber with its shield arm.

"_Hanami-nee!_" Fubuki raised her shield and started firing the beam rifles on it as well.

"_Amateurs!_" Rau grinned as he gunned the thrusters easily dodging the hastily-aimed beam fire. Once he got close enough, he rolled his CGUE upside down and slashed at the Exodus' outstretched arm. Only Hanami's quick reaction prevented it from being literally disarmed, although she still lost her beam rifle.

Before she could do anything else though, the white CGUE landed a heavy kick on the Ariete's cockpit, which didn't do anything to the heavily-armoured mobile suit although it did heavily rattle Fubuki inside. "_Ahh!_" Fubuki gasped as she banged her head on the cockpit controls hard enough to stun her momentarily.

"_ASSHOLE!_" Kira shouted out as she fired her own beam rifle at the white unit only for it to dodge and deliver a powerful kick to the arm, sending her into a spin. "_How the hell is he doing that!?_"

"_So this is an ace pilot..._" Hanami gritted her teeth as she retrieved her spare rifle from the hanger on her unit's back while charging at Rau only for him to duck low and take a swipe at the Exodus' legs, forcing her to jump over the CGUE to avoid it.

"_I see, the machines' performance is making up for the lack of skill,_" Rau mused as he lazily dodged a shot from Mu's gun barrels and blew it apart with his CIWS.

By that time Ryu came swooping in like a hawk would onto a mouse and drove his Buster Sword straight towards Rau's cockpit forcing the ace pilot to leap away or get gutted. "Keep him at a range!" Ryu shouted out over the radio. "Force him to keep moving! Just don't hit me!"

"_That's way easier said than done_!" Kagami growled as she used her large swords to attempt to scissor her opponent in half, only to overextend and end up being tripped when Rau dodged backwards and dashed forward to a avoid a beam from Hanami.

Ryu frowned. "Ranged attacks only, Highwind, Exodus, cover right, Etain, Ariete, cover left!" Ryu barked out. "Don't worry about hitting him, just close him in!"

"_This thing needs more ranged options_!" Kagami complained as she launched some missiles at Rau from the containers on the Highwind's back.

Fubuki had recovered from her daze by now to raise both her rifle and shield to barrage Rau with linear cannon and beam rifle fire.

Ryu weaved through the Ariete's firepower as it forced the CGUE away, soon joined in by the Exodus and Etain, boxing in Rau as Ryu closed in, the Buster Sword gleaming as it was swung, aiming for the cockpit.

"_This is getting annoying,_" Rau jumped out of the way, using the X-Frame as a shield against the ranged attackers.

"Aim to either side of me, give him no room to dodge!" Ryu ordered quickly, shifting their tactics. "Circle formation!"

"_R-Right!_" Fubuki nodded.

"_I feel so inadequate now,_" Hanami grumbled as she opened up with her missiles too.

"_Get in line,_" Kagami echoed, having finally gotten enough of a reprieve to swap her swords out for her rifle.

"_I know the feeling,_" Kira agreed as she fired a quick burst, boxing the CGUE in as she boosted into the circle formation. "_But… the way Ryu gets the orders out so quickly…_"

"_Yep, that's... really cool_," Hanami nodded. "_You can really tell he's very experienced_."

Fubuki caught herself blushing and quickly shook her head and smacked her cheeks to rouse herself before resuming firing.

"_I can tell this isn't going to go anywhere, Black Dragon,"_ Rau boosted backwards to get out of _R_yu's range. "_Shall we declare an impasse then?_"

"I said… I will kill you Creuset…" Ryu informed as his unit took a stance. "And I always kill my Priority target…"

"_Not today!_" Rau jumped backwards, heading straight for the spaceport, only for his path to be blocked by an orange-colored mobile armour. "_Tch, you're always getting in my way!_"

"RAU LE CREUSET!" Ryu roared out as he closed in quickly, thanks to Kagami using the Highwind as an impromptu Booster, his shortsword flashing menacingly as it plunged directly into the side of the CGUE, straight into the cockpit.

"_My plans… they were… perfec-_" Rau started to say only for his words to be cut off as the short sword finished the trip, avoiding the Battery Unit as it did so.

Hanami and Fubuki watched in silence as the CGUE slumped, its pilot clearly dead. The X-Frame relaxed slightly, Ryu pulling the short sword out with a visible slight coating of red on it.

"_Is... Is it over?_" Fubuki asked.

"For now… ZAFT will do one of two things at this point, keep fighting, or retreat," Ryu informed as he landed the X-Frame.

"_Well, let's hope they decide to-_" Kira started only for an explosion to rock the ground, a majestic white ship sailing through the air from the cloud of debris. "_WHO THE HELL?_"

"_The _Archangel!" Murrue shouted before quickly switching to an open comm. "Archangel, _this is Lieutenant Murrue Ramius inside of the GAT-X105, do not fire, all active mobile suits in the area are friendlies!_"

"_That's a nice-looking ship,_" Hanami whistled. "I guess that solves our transportation problem."

"_Yo! Gimme a hand with this! We can still use it, Hanami-chan, Kira-chan!_" Kagami was trying to lug the downed CGUE towards the Archangel, and having trouble with it considering her unit wasn't designed with power in mind.

"_Right,_" Kira agreed as she came up next to the unit and helped pick it up with Hanami. "_We should be able to salvage this and maybe some of the GiNNs…_"

"_The big question is who's going to clean that cockpit up..._" Hanami pointed out, sounding disgusted at the thought. "_Definitely not me._"

"_Umm, can we get the Archangel crew to do it?_" Kagami asked hesitantly.

"_Hanami-nee, Kagami-nee, we... we just killed someone and you're already talking about salvaging their mobile suit?_" Fubuki blinked in exasperation.

"_We're Junk Guild members after all_," Kagami shrugged.

"_I think we can convince them,_" Kira agreed, a sly smirk on her face. "_After all, I have _that _OS they would pay an arm and a leg for._"

"_Is it really worth using that trump card this early though?_" Hanami frowned. "_We should be able to... Hisanaga-san, would you mind giving us a hand with it?_"

"I'm sorry, what?" Ryu asked, snapping out of the daze he seemed to have been in. "I wasn't paying attention."

Hanami blinked in surprise. _"Oooookay... Quite honestly we're all a wee bit squeamish, so could you help us clean out the cockpit of the CGUE you just... depiloted?_"

Ryu sighed slightly. "Sure, going to have to replace the entire cockpit with how many major circuitry boards I just melted," he informed. "We can just yank the old one and replace it."

"_Just yank that old one so we can scour it for parts. You never know what may have survived intact,_" Kagami shrugged. "_Plus we might actually get some valuable combat data from the infamous Rau le Creuset from the black box..._"

"_Would be helpful for the Combat Assist AI I'm developing…_" Kira mused. "_Let's hope the black box survived._"

* * *

**Pilot ready room, **_**Vesalius**_

* * *

"We've lost the signal from the Commander's CGUE!" The CIC officer shouted out in shock. "His Neural Implant is no longer responding!"

"What the hell!? Are you sure?" a silver-haired pilot roared into the intercom. "Double check it! Triple check it, even! The Commander won't go down that easily!"

"I did sir!" the CIC operator confirmed. "Commander Creuset is KIA."

"How is that possible...?" Yzak sank into a seat, sitting there in silent contemplation for a moment before slamming his fist into the wall beside him. "Damn it! Damn these Natural bastards!"

"This… is not good," Athrun said with a frown. "We need to return to the PLANTs, we achieved more than the minimum for our objective."

"But the Commander! We can't leave without avenging him!" Yzak countered as he stormed towards the hangar. "I want a piece of those damned Naturals that shot him down!"

"Yzak, think for a minute, they took down the _Commander,_" Dearka informed quickly. "We couldn't even _touch _him in simulations!"

"They probably just got lucky! We can get them if we all sortie at once!" the hotheaded pilot growled. "Damn it!"

"Lucky? Against the _commander?_" Nicol asked speculatively. "Umm, maybe I should've mentioned this sooner, but… there are rumours that the Black Dragon left OMNI and went off the grid, latest rumour pointed at him being a teacher in _Heliopolis… _do you think…"

Yzak froze and cursed out loud. "Of all the shittiest times for him to pop up... I swear, one way or another, I'll kill him and avenge the commander!"

"Calm down Yzak," Ades, the captain of the _Vesalius_ commanded. "You do not have enough experience to take him on, plus, we are already causing a diplomatic incident as it is, the council, your _mother _would not want it aggravated by you going on a rampage because you're having a tantrum."

"Grrr..." Yzak grumbled. "Fine. I'll stand down."

Ades nodded. "Thank you, get a line set up with the Council," he commanded. "And begin preparations for combat, the last recording we received from the Commander was of the Legged Ship, we will ambush them when they leave the Colony, like we should have done…" he muttered the last part under his breath.

* * *

**END CHAPTER!**

* * *

**Custom Mobile Suits**

**Model Number**: MBF-X00 X Frame Gundam  
**Unit Type**: Experimental Mirage Colloid Weapons Test Bed Mobile Suit  
**Powerplant**: Ultracompact Energy Battery  
**Manufacture:** Morgenroete  
**Operator(s):** Morgenroete, ORB  
**Equipment and Design Features**:  
Foam Metal Armor  
**M.C.W.P **(Mirage Colloid Weapon Pack)Hardpoints  
4x Battery Extenders  
Mirage Particle Condenser Unit  
**Fixed Armament**:  
2x 75mm 'Igelstellung' CIWS, mounted in head  
2x Beam Sabers, mounted on waist, hand carried in use  
**Optional Armaments:**  
**M**irage **C**olloid **W**eapon **P**acks (**M.C.W.P**)  
_Sword __**M.C.W.P  
**_ 1x Shoulder mounted Mirage Colloid Particle Condenser, mounted on left shoulder with MCP Electro Colloid Buster Sword, MCP Electro Colloid Buster Sword hand carried in use  
1x Superheated Physical Long Sword, mounted on left hip, hand Carried in use  
1x Superheated Physical Short Sword, mounted on right hip, hand carried in use  
1x Wire Guided Rocket Anchor, mounted on left forearm  
_Cannon __**M.C.W.P  
**_1x MCP Electro Colloid Cannon, hand carried  
1x Combo Weapon Pod, mounted on left shoulder  
2x 65mm Anti-Mobile Suit Vulcans, 1x Micro Missile Launcher  
_Mobility __**M.C.W.P  
**_1x MCP Electro Colloid Rifle  
Flight Pack  
1x Shield  
Small Mirage Colloid Particle Barrier Generator  
**Pilot(s)**: Ryu Hisanaga  
**Appearance**: Has the same basic frame as the Astray Gundams only the head is similar to the Throne Varnus with a V-Crest on the forehead, the flight pack from the Mobility WASP looks like the Verniers from the basic Ahead Unit, coloration is the same as the Astray Series, only colored black with two crimson slash marks forming an X on the chest.  
**Info**: The X Frame was developed by Morgenroete to test out the newest line of experimental weaponry, using Mirage Colloid Particles in place of ballistic weaponry, and was developed alongside the Beam Weapons of the G-Weapons that was later chosen for the Astray series. The way that most of the weapons for the X Frame Gundam works is that by using the Mirage Colloid Particles as a conductor for a powerful electrical charge, similar to earlier concepts of Electrolasers but replacing the ionizing laser with the Mirage Colloid particles instead. This still has the similar effect as a directed lightning strike, but is capable of being used in space as well as on earth, for the Sword W.A.S.P Pack, the physical blades are coated with Mirage Colloid Particles functioning as a 'trapping' element for the electric charge, superheating the blades in addition to basically zapping enemy machines they come close to without the need for actual physical contact, although it does help. While not as cost effective as the Beam Weapons utilized by the G-Weapons, the Mirage Particle Weapons were shown to be highly effective in their own rights.

**Model Number**: MBF-SP01 'Etain' Gundam  
**Unit Type**: Prototype Solar Powered General Purpose Mobile Suit  
**Powerplant**: High Efficiency Rechargeable Ultracompact Solar Reactor  
**Manufacture:** Morgenroete  
**Operator(s):** ORB  
**Equipment and Design Features**:  
16 x YEC-99 'Taiyo' High-Efficiency Solar Energy Collectors, mounted on body  
Phase Shift Armor  
_Optional_  
'Shrike' Rotor Flight Pack  
'Wyvern' Space Maneuvering Pack  
**Fixed Armament**:  
2x 75mm 'Igelstellung' CIWS, mounted in head  
2x MW-SC-57 'Tanto' Beam Daggers, mounted in thigh compartments, hand carried in use  
**Optional Armaments:  
**PSW-BR-87 Solar Beam Rifle  
Shield  
HW-PB-49 Revolver Bazooka, six hots per clip. four extra clips stored on waist armor**  
Pilot(s)**:  
**Appearance**:  
**Info**: The MBF-SP01 'Etain' Gundam is ORBs attempt to create a mobile suit that was created to test the theory of having an unlimited energy source for mobile suits by using Solar Energy, the Taiyo High-Efficiency Solar Energy Collectors were created for this sole purpose, quickly and efficiently gather solar energy, even in the midst of combat. During testing it was found that even with the Phase Shift Armor active, the solar energy being collected neutralized the energy drain of the costly armor system. The Solar Beam Rifle is a prototype beam rifle that was developed in conjunction with the Etain Gundam, as a way to equip the power costly beam rifles onto mobile suits without worry about draining the battery power, this was done by building the Rifle with Taiyo cells incorporated into the weapon itself, storing them into an energy compression system that stores the energy for use, saving the need to tax the battery. Finally the Revolver Bazooka is a revolver based clip fed Bazooka that has a quick reload and firing speed and the spiral barrel allows for greater accuracy allowing well placed shots to destroy Warships.

**Model Number**: MBF-P07 Exodus Gundam  
**Unit Type**: Prototype Multipurpose Modular Mobile Suit  
**Powerplant**: Ultracompact Energy Battery (removable)  
**Manufacture: **Morgenroete  
**Operator(s): **Junk Guild  
**Equipment and Design Features**:  
Laminated Pot Metal Armour  
Hardpoint System  
Weapon Hanger System  
Field-replaceable Energy Battery  
**Fixed Armament**:  
4x Beam Sabers  
2x "Igelstellung" 75mm Multi-barrel Anti Air CIWS  
**Optional Armaments:  
**1x 57mm Beam Multi-Rifle, can add several different add-ons to change role  
- Sniper Rifle (barrel) + Extended Stock (stock) + Long-Range Radar Scope, requires free arm hardpoint. Can fire either physical ammunition (more stealthy) or beams. Silenced too.  
- Beam Gatling (barrel) + Liquid Cooling (stock), requires nearby water source, includes pipes.  
- Beam Bayonet (underbarrel)  
- Physical Shotgun (underbarrel)  
- Physical 152mm High-Velocity Cannon (underbarrel), cannot be fired on the move  
1x 'Atlas' High-Density Beam Rifle/120mm Linear Cannon/Anti-ship Sword  
1x Revolver Bazooka  
(Numbers not stated due to versatility of Hardpoint and Weapon Hanger system)  
2x Arm Hardpoints:  
- Ram Shield w/ Ion Field Generator  
- Extra Beam Saber Wrist Mount  
- 'Sin' Anti-Ship Sword  
- Sniper Rifle extra power feed  
2x Rear Hardpoints:  
- Cargo Container/Missile Launcher (carries add-ons for the Beam Multi-Rifle and/or extra batteries, can also fire torpedoes)  
- Cargo Container (pure cargo, no extra missile launcher on top - Hanami uses this to carry trap materials around too)  
- Weapon Hanger (for carrying extra weapons)  
- 'Avenger III' 50mm beam gatling  
- 'Equus' Energy Leech Harpoon  
Note: Cargo containers can be launched into the battlefield using cruise missiles for long-range resupply.  
1x Backpack Hardpoint:  
- Ion Lifter Backpack  
- Heavy Weapons Backpack (1x Heavy Weapons Hardpoint, replaces standard rear hardpoints)  
- Dual 100mm Gatling Gun  
- 'Longinus' Ion Cannon  
- 'Schlagen Kanone' 450mm Siege Howitzer  
- MLRS  
- 'Agni' 320mm Hyper Impulse Beam Cannon (from Launcher Strike)  
- Multipurpose Backpack (adds 4x extra rear hardpoints, but combined with the ability to fire weapons from the weapon hanger can make the Exodus capable of fighting enemies in all directions around it. Burns through energy like mad though when firing beams)  
- Turbines w/ torpedo launchers (for underwater combat)  
- Stealth Cloak - a net that can change camouflage patterns for use on any terrain. Also disrupts electronic sensors. Looks like a mobile suit-sized ghillie suit when deployed.  
- Mirage Colloid Backpack (used less often than the Stealth Cloak due to high energy consumption)  
**Pilot(s)**: Hanami Yukikaze  
**Appearance**:  art/Exodus-Gundam-Backpack-attached-405210549?q=gallery%3AArkhonus&qo=3  
Since AstralXYZ doesn't know how to texture yet (those are just simple, temporary colours) it's supposed to be mostly silver with black joints and highlights. The eyes are green, and the V-fin is the usual yellow.  
**Info**: A mobile suit designed by Morgenroete around the idea of interchangeable modules to tailor the suit to very specific battlefield conditions and the ability to operate independently deep within enemy territory for extended hours. The Exodus features a unique Beam Multi-Rifle capable of changing from a normal beam rifle to a sniper rifle or even a heavy assault gatling gun simply by swapping gun parts in the heat of battle if necessary, and also a shield with built-in thrusters designed specially for ramming. The suit is also capable of changing its own battery by running on a backup activated only when the main battery runs out and is ejected.

**Model Number**: MVF-P08 Highwind Gundam  
**Unit Type**: Prototype Multipurpose Transformable Mobile Suit  
**Powerplant**: Ultracompact Energy Battery (removable)  
**Manufacture: **Morgenroete  
**Operator(s): **  
**Equipment and Design Features**:

Laminated Pot Metal Armour

Hardpoint System

Weapon Hanger System

Removable Energy Battery

Waverider Mode  
**Fixed Armament**:

4x "Igelstellung" 75mm Multi-barrel Anti Air CIWS

2x Beam Sabers (hidden in knee binders)  
**Optional Armaments:**

1x 57mm Beam Multi-Rifle (attachments are the same as the Exodus')

1x 'Atlas' High-Density Beam Rifle/120mm Linear Cannon/Anti-ship Sword

1x Revolver Bazooka

(Numbers not stated due to versatility of Hardpoint and Weapon Hanger Systems)  
2x Arm Hardpoints  
(Same as Exodus)  
2x Rear Hardpoints  
(Same as Exodus)  
2x Wing Hardpoints  
Linear Guns  
High-mobility Wings (wings can be used as large anti-ship high-frequency swords, usage in Waverider mode not advised *cough cough*)  
AWACS Radome (one side only)  
Electronic Warfare Pod (one side only)  
Stealth Cloak w/ rotors (cloak deployable only when not in flight, also gives the Highwind VTOL and hovering capabilities and rocket pods)  
**Pilot(s)**: Kagami Yukikaze  
**Appearance**:  
Linear Guns mounted:  
art/Highwind-Gundam-441967040?q=gallery%3AArkhonus&qo=0  
High-mobility Wings mounted:  
art/Highwind-Gundam-High-Mobility-Wings-442419500  
**Info**: The Highwind was built around the same idea as the Exodus, but Morgenroete decided to try and incorporate it into a transformable frame that can switch to a fighter mode. While the backpack hardpoint and some armour was sacrificed to accommodate the change, the Highwind can make use of wing hardpoints and still use the same weapons as the Exodus and has an increased level of mobility.

**Model Number**: MVF-P09 Ariete Gundam  
**Unit Type**: Prototype Heavy Assault Transformable Mobile Suit  
**Powerplant**: 2x Ultracompact Energy Battery (removable)  
**Manufacture: **Morgenroete  
**Operator(s): **ORB  
**Equipment and Design Features**:

Phase Shift Armour w/ Laminated Plating

Hardpoint System

Weapon Hanger System

Removable Energy Battery

Triceratops Mode

Hover Units

Built-in Cargo Compartments  
**Fixed Armament**:

2x 90mm CIWS (chest-mounted)

2x Beam Sabers (stored in forearms)

1x 'Cornibus' Shield + 3x Beam Horn/Mega Launcher

2x Rocket Anchor  
**Optional Armaments:**

1x 57mm Beam Multi-Rifle (attachments are mostly the same as the Exodus', but slightly more limited due to lack of arm hardpoints)

1x 'Atlas' High-Density Beam Rifle/120mm Linear Cannon/Anti-ship Sword

1x Revolver Bazooka  
2x Heavy Weapons Hardpoints  
See Exodus' Heavy Weapons Backpack  
2x Shoulder Weapon Hangers  
Just about any weapon you can find (or steal)  
Cargo Compartments:  
- Micromissile Arrays  
- Stealth Cloak  
- Advanced Sensor Arrays  
**Pilot(s)**: Fubuki Yukikaze  
**Appearance**:  
art/Ariete-Gundam-445022483  
art/Ariete-Gundam-MA-Mode-445024249  
**Info**: Similar to the Highwind, the Ariete was designed on a transformable frame, but this time as a heavily armed and armoured weapons platform. Boasting Phase Shift armour on top of battleship-grade laminated plating, the Ariete is incredibly resistant to any kind of damage while capable of carrying a pair of heavy weapons that it can fire on the move in its more stable Triceratops mode. Of course, it is much, much slower than most other mobile suits, although it makes up for it with powerful hover thrusters for traversing difficult terrain.

By default, the Ariete carries the Atlas triple mode rifle sword, although it can still use the Beam Multi-Rifle from its sister mobile suits to a more limited extent since it has no arm hardpoints. It also carries a combine shield with 3 beam rifles that can also emit short-ranged beam horns.


End file.
